Israel and Egypt have made “certain progress in the political process” leading to a resumption of peace negotiations between them, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Alfred L. Atherton said here after a meeting with Premier Menachem Begin today. He offered no details of the meeting, his second with Begin this week, which was attended by Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Defense Minister Ezer Weizman.
Dayan, however, was more specific. He said the military committee talks will resume next week and that if the political committee talks are not resumed in their previous form in Jerusalem they might be resumed by having a mediator shuttle between Jerusalem and Cairo.
Meanwhile, Gen, Avraham Tamir, one of Weizman’s top aides, returned here tonight from Cairo and will report to the Cabinet Sunday on his talks with Egypt. Gen. Taha Maghdoub, a leading participant in the Egyptian military committee talks. Tamir’s report will help the government decide whether to resume the military talks in Cairo.
American efforts are focussed on bringing Israel and Egypt back to the political and military negotiations broken off last week and some progress appears to have been made. President Anwar Sadat of Egypt said in Cairo yesterday that serious negotiations were going on behind the scenes.
Atherton will go to Cairo early next week to meet with Sadat. He is believed to be seeking agreement by both sides to a joint declaration of principles that would set the stage for resumption of the political committee talks. Agreement, reportedly, was near last week when Sadat suddenly recalled his negotiators home from Jerusalem. The key obstacle was said to be the Palestinian issue. Israel still objects to President Carter’s Aswan formula which would ensure the Palestinians the right to participate in determining their fate.
MAJOR STUMBLING BLOCKS
The major stumbling block in the military talks, apart from the future status of Israeli settlements in Sinai, is the matter of demilitarization. It is certain to be the focal point of the military committee’s deliberations expected to resume in Cairo next week. In his Knesset speech Tuesday, Begin accused Egypt of reneging on an agreement between himself and Sadat that Egyptian forces would not advance beyond the Gidi and Mitle passes, leaving all of eastern Sinai a demilitarized zone.
Begin claimed in a Haaretz interview today that Sadat had promised this during their private meeting in Jerusalem last November but that the Egyptian military establishment now demands that their army be stationed only 25 milies from the international border. The Egyptians seem to interpret Sadat’s promise as applying only to the bulk of the army and insist that some Egyptian troops are entitled to remain much closer to the boundary line.
According to Begin, Israel insists that if any Egyptian units are permitted near the border, it would result in the build-up of a new military infrastructure for the entire Sinai region. Israel, however, demands the right to keep troops in Sinai to defend its settlements there.
VERY CLOSE TO ACCORD ON PRINCIPLES
Dayan, in an address today in Bor Ilan University, said he thought Israel and Egypt were very close to an accord on a declaration of principles. “I believe we can reach, and this is mainly due to the American contribution, an agreement about the principles that would be acceptable to the Egyptians and ourselves.” He added that “we have been making quite a bit of progress. Unless the Egyptians try artificially to delay or avoid it, I think we are within reach of getting an agreement.” Just before Sadat suspended the political talks last Wednesday, Begin said agreement had been reached on five of the seven principles.
Dayan also revealed that there was a time in the past when he was interested in meeting with leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization, including Yasir Arafat, in order to learn from them what motivated their terrorist activities. Now, however, he added, he opposed meeting with them. “We are dealing and negotiating with states and not with terror organizations, he affirmed.”
YADIN FAVORS TERRITORIAL EXCHANGE
Deputy Premier Yigael Yadin of the Democratic Movement for Change (DMC) said on a television interview yesterday that the gap between Israel and Egypt on the question of principles was “narrower than it seems.” He said that once an agreement on principles is reached, the political committee could be reconvened and the momentum renewed. But this time the talks will be given much less exposure to the media, he said.
With respect to the Sinai settlements, Yadin said he would support a territorial exchange in which Israel would retain the Rafah salient and cede part of the Negev to Egypt. He said that Israel would not propose such a solution but would consider it if the Egyptians raised the possibility. Yadin’s remarks raised the ire of Likud hard-liners Geula Cohen and Moshe Shamir who demanded a personal explanation from Begin of the government’s position on that issue.
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