Eric Johnston, President Eisenhower’s personal envoy to the Middle East, has returned by plane to Washington this week-end to consult with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles on the progress of talks for a regional water development plan.
Before leaving here he said that Israel has displayed a constructive approach to the problem and added that the differences between Israel and the Arab states on technical questions had been reduced to small particulars of no great importance. Mr. Johnston said that the future course of the talks would be determined by his consultation with Secretary Dulles.
It was understood here, however, that the principal blocks to successful negotiations are political rather than technical. The Presidential envoy confirmed reports that Israel has asked that a definite time limit be set for acceptance or rejection of the plan, while reports from Cairo had indicated that the Arabs–who have been stalling for a long time already–want even more time to consider the matter.
Mr. Johnston had met with Prime Minister Moshe Sharett and informed him of the course of his most recent talks with the Arabs, who had “not yet reached any final conclusion,” The proposal for a definite time limit on the plan was put forward at a meeting of the Johnston and Israel negotiating teams by Levi Eshkol, Israel Minister of Finance. Mr. Johnston promised to convey this proposal to the United States Government. Messrs. Johnston and Eshkol then agreed that all efforts should be made to conclude the negotiations favorably.
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