Egypt’s reply to Israel’s latest settlement proposals was received here today from the Washington Embassy. Officials said the three-member ministerial negotiating team would review it only tomorrow morning and Friday. The Cabinet will meet Sunday afternoon to hear their report and only then will a reply to Egypt be drafted.
Officials today were tight-lipped about the contents of the Egyptian reply. They seemed to endorse, though, the statement made yesterday by Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz in Washington–to the effect that the fact the negotiations were continuing was in itself a positive sign.
The Egyptian reply apparently contains some small concessions in comparison to Cairo’s previous position, but it still leaves a broad gap along the entire length of the Sinai front. Informed sources said Israel’s reply would probably be a request for further “clarifications” rather than a newly enunciated position. The sources said they thought the Cabinet would not, therefore, be required to take new decisions when it convenes Sunday.
The weekend talks here will be interlaced with official functions in connection with the visit of Mexican President Luis Echeverria beginning tomorrow afternoon. The Mexican leader leaves Sunday noon–after holding a joint press conference with Premier Yitzhak Rabin here.
GAPS REMAIN ON THREE FRONTS
The informed sources indicated that while there had indeed been some Egyptian concessions, the gap had not been closed on any of the three fronts; the Mitle and Gidi Passes, the Refidim area to the north, and the Gulf of Suez strip to the south. Defense Minister Shimon Peres has said on several public occasions in the last 10 days that he sees Israel’s latest offer as necessarily its last, and that there can be no room for further concessions, Sources close to Rabin were at pains today to point out that Rabin himself had been more circumspect in his public statements.
This immediately spread speculation in some quarters that a split within the ministerial negotiating team, and within the Cabinet, might be in the offing. But officials discouraged these thoughts stressing that the negotiating team of Foreign Minister Yigal Allon, Rabin and Peres had not yet met to discuss the Egyptian reply.
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