If Israel and Egypt voluntarily continue their cease-fire after its Nov. 5 deadline, the standstill provisions of the truce will be considered by the United States to be still in effect, authoritative U.S. sources said today. The sources said a decision was nearing on a formal American proposal for an extension of the U.S.-initiated 90-day truce. They said they continued to hope that the standstill will continue formally past Nov. 5 and that there will be no more violations. One source said that “We hope that a rectification satisfactory to the Israelis can be achieved.” That was seen as further evidence that the U.S. is on Israel’s side in the matter of standstill violations, inasmuch as Secretary of State William P. Rogers said several weeks ago that the U.S. sought rectification “satisfactory to the Israelis and the Egyptians.” Administration circles, reviewing recent meetings on the Middle East with the parties and with other foreign leaders, conceded that there has been no significant progress toward the resumption of the Gunnar V. Jarring peace talks, which Israel is boycotting pending Egyptian missile rectification. They said the Israeli and Arab positions remained steadfast. The sources declined immediate comment on today’s General Assembly speech by Israeli Premier Golda Meir. (At the United Nations, a British spokesman also declined immediate comment. Secretary General U Thant personally does not comment on Assembly addresses.)
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