Gov. Scranton Due in Israel Today, Confers with Egyptian President, King Hussein

Former Gov. William W. Scranton of Pennsylvania, due here tomorrow on the final leg of a fact-finding mission to the Middle East on behalf of President-elect Richard M. Nixon, has cancelled plans to visit the Golan Heights in occupied Syrian territory and has also asked Foreign Minister Abba Eban to cancel a formal dinner in Jerusalem tomorrow night. No. explanation was given for the reported change of schedule. Gov. Scranton will enter Israel from Jordan via the Allenby Bridge and the West Bank. He will see Mr. Eban, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol and other officials. He will return to the United States on Tuesday.

Gov. Scranton has visited Saudi Arabia, Iran, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan. He had a two-hour meeting with President Gamal Abdel Nasser in Cairo on Friday. According to reports from the Egyptian capital, he was “encouraged” about prospects for peace in the Middle East and pleased by Col. Nasser’s “openness and frankness.” According to the Cairo reports, he said he felt “even-handedness” was desirable in United States Middle East policy and thought that U.S. interests in that region did not entail “absolute support” for Israel.

Mr. Scranton reportedly said in Cairo that he had taken no diplomatic initiative toward a settlement because he was on a purely fact-finding mission. U.S. relations with Egypt were discussed but Mr. Scranton said he was not in a position to judge the prospects for the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries under the Nixon Administration. Relations were broken by Egypt during the June, 1967 Arab-Israel war amid charges that U.S. planes had aided the Israeli Air Force. Those charges were subsequently retracted by President Nasser. The Nixon envoy met today with Jordan’s King Hussein, Premier Bahjat al-Talhouni and Foreign Minister Abdel Moneim Rifai.