French political circles claimed today that reaction to the de Gaulle Government’s proposal yesterday for a Four Power conference on the Middle East was “hopeful” in most of the capitals concerned. The only one known to be energetically opposed to the principle of an imposed settlement was Jerusalem, they said, “but if everybody else agrees, Israel will do the same.” According to these circles, reaction in most Arab capitals has been one of “satisfaction.” They said that Washington had not brushed the proposal aside as it did similar proposals in the past. They said that Moscow has always indicated conditional acceptance of a Big Power conference on the Middle East and that French diplomats were expecting an answer on the subject from the Soviet Ambassador Valerian Zorin when he meets with President de Gaulle next week.
(In London, Prime Minister Harold Wilson said today that he did not think that the Four Power conference proposed by France would be “productive in the present circumstances.”)
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