Foreign Minister Abba Eban disclosed at today’s Cabinet meeting that the Nixon Administration had informed Israel that the United States does not believe in an enforced settlement of the Middle East conflict. Cabinet Secretary Michael Arnon told newsmen after the meeting that high level contacts had taken place between the U.S. State Department and the Israel Embassy in Washington before and after the American reply to the French note proposing Four Power talks on the Middle East. He said that Mr. Eban briefed Cabinet members today on the five approaches to a Middle East solution outlined by President Nixon at his press conference last Thursday.
Those approaches were: support of UN envoy Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring’s peace mission; bi-lateral talks among the Big Four at the UN to proceed full, formal talks; meetings with the parties concerned in the Middle East dispute; and advancement of aid plans for the Middle East, such as the nuclear-powered water desalination project formulated by Admiral Lewis L. Strauss two years ago and endorsed by former President Eisenhower.
Gideon Rafael, director-general of the Foreign Ministry said earlier on a Kol Israel radio interview that the five approaches outlined by Mr. Nixon constituted a new diplomatic approach but not a new policy. He said he did not know if the projected Four Power talks would hurt Israel but thought they might pose an obstacle to direct Israel-Arab negotiations.
Foreign Ministry sources nevertheless praised the Nixon Administration’s “careful approach” to Middle East problems. They said the President had demonstrated that he would not be “rushed in” to any action by his proposal for exploratory steps through bi-lateral talks at the UN before a decision was made to go ahead with the Four Power talks. They said that despite the urgency with which Mr. Nixon viewed the Middle East crisis, he intended to explore all possibilities and consider all options before presenting any proposals of his own.
The Foreign Ministry today denied a report by the syndicated Washington Post columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak that President Nixon had warned Israel on reprisal raids against the Arabs while Big Four talks were going on. Officials said it was in Israeli and U.S. interests that the border should be quiet. They said that Israel has frequently stressed to U.S. officials that the current tension in the Middle East was artificially generated by the Arabs to create an impression that a new explosion was imminent and thus force the hand of the U.S.
Ambassador Rafael said on Kol Israel it was possible that the United States and Egypt would resume diplomatic relations, severed by Egypt during the 1967 Six-Day War. President Nixon and President Gamal Abdel Nasser, of Egypt, recently exchanged cordial letters. The Egyptian leader was known to have appealed for a U.S. attitude more responsive to Arab views on a Middle East peace. President Nixon’s reply was friendly, according to informed diplomatic sources, but was non-committal and contained no specific proposals on Middle East peace talks or on the resumption of diplomatic ties with Cairo. According to Mr. Rafael, the initiative for renewed relations with Washington was taken by President Nasser who is more interested than ever in re-establishing Egypt’s contacts there.
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