‘final Date’ for Settling Egyptian-israeli Deadlock Comes and Goes with No Incidents

One of the strangest trial balloons of Egyptian diplomacy-a warning in an authoritative Cairo newspaper on Friday that President Sadat had set today as the “final date” for settling the Egyptian-Israeli deadlock-was deflated when the appointed day came to an uneventful close. The report in Al Ahram, was written by its editor, Mohammed Husanein Heykal, a confidant of President Sadat as he was of the late President Nasser. The report gave no indication whatever as to what action Sadat might order to implement the purported deadline warning. The Al Ahram report said that the alleged fixing of the date had been conveyed to Washington by Sadat in an exchange of messages with President Nixon but one highly placed Israeli source told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Friday that Assistant Secretary of State Joseph Sisco had not informed his Israeli hosts two weeks age when he was in Israel of any such ultimatum. (In Washington, the White House and the State Department denied on Friday any information from Sadat to Nixon of an Aug. 15 deadline. Presidential press secretary Ronald Ziegler said Nixon had not received a letter from Sadat. State Department spokesman Robert McCloskey said he could “confidently say” that no communication had stipulated “anything like” the purported deadline.)

The Cabinet, at its regular meeting today, was reported not to have taken the “deadline” seriously. Reliable sources said Israel had chosen the State Department version over that of Al Ahram. Foreign Minister Abba Eban was reported to have told the session that Egypt has been conductions a “selective offensive” against the United States since the Sisco visit, on its handling of the Mideast problem. Eban reportedly said that Egyptian diplomats have accused the United States of seeking a permanent settlement under the “guise” of a provisional one, a reference to U.S. efforts to achieve an interim Israeli-Egyptian interim agreement for reopening the Suez Canal. The Egyptians were reported to be saying that since the U.S. had not put forward any views of its own, Egypt was free to act as it chose. The Israeli evaluation was reported to be that this Egyptian stance had put an end to silent diplomacy as far as Egypt was concerned. The Cabinet also was told that the U.S. has not informed Israel as to its contacts with Egypt since the end of the Sisco mission and there is no authoritative information here as to whether the results of the Sisco mission-as viewed by the Nixon Administration-have been transmitted to Egypt.