Foreign Minister Mahmoud Riad of Egypt left Cairo today for the United Nations in New York amid reports that he will call for a General Assembly debate on the Middle East and a resolution condemning Israeli “aggression.” An Egyptian-Soviet political offensive at the UN is expected to be directed against the United States as well as Israel. According to observers here the Egyptians believe the hard line taken by the Nixon administration on alleged cease-fire violations stems from consideration of the “Jewish vote” in next month’s elections. Egypt’s acting President Anwar Sadat accused the U.S. yesterday of hoping for a power vacuum in Egypt following President Nasser’s death so that it can exert “pressure and threats” to weaken Egypt’s stand against Israel. He told newsmen in Cairo that his instructions to Mr. Riad were to “be open to all, but any talks based on pressure or threats are rejected.” The Egyptians are expected to seek a new UN resolution that will define more sharply the elements of the Security Council’s Resolution 242 of Nov. 22, 1967 which call for Israel’s withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories. The Egyptians are said to believe that if they can bring such a resolution to a vote the U.S. would be in the awkward position of having to support it, at Israel’s displeasure, or reject it and thereby destroy the credibility of Washington’s insistence that Resolution 242 is the basis of its Mideast policies. If the U.S. opposes such a resolution the Egyptians claim, it will be isolated from other Western countries nervous over Arab threats to Western oil interests and anxious to have the Suez Canal re-opened.
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