Israel Returns to Egypt Revised Proposals for Joint Declaration

Israel is sending Egypt revised proposals for a joint declaration of principles. The new draft, submitted to U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Alfred L. Atherton this morning by Premier Menachem Begin and Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan, was said to contain new elements.

Atherton, who declined to say what progress if any, has been made in the course of his shuttle diplomacy so far, did observe that there are “each time some new ideas that provide some new basis for progress.” He said the U.S. would submit its own ideas if necessary.

He will take the latest Israeli proposals to Cairo tomorrow and return to Israel Thursday, presumably with Egypt’s response.” Obviously, there is still a gap. If there were no gap, the negotiations would have been completed,” Atherton told reporters.

Begin spoke to newsmen later, on emerging from a meeting with visiting British Foreign Secretary David Owen. He said there was “reason to assume” that the negotiating process would continue, and Owen concurred. The British diplomat said Begin has not toughened the peace proposals he outlined to British leaders after his visit to the U.S. last December. “I have always thought that Sadat and Begin were resolved to have peace,” Owen said.

HARDENING OF POSITIONS NOTED

However, Israeli sources claimed there has been a hardening of the Egyptian position. Begin made it clear that there was no flexibility on the Israeli side either, on the question of the Palestinians and total withdrawal by Israel from occupied Arab territories.

Commenting on Egypt’s proposals for a joint declaration which Atherton brought here from Cairo last week, Begin said: “Some of the paragraphs suggested to us can be negotiated. One paragraph is acceptable since it is identical with the Israeli draft. But we made it absolutely clear that total withdrawal to the 1967 borders or the creation of a Palestinian state were not acceptable to us.”

Some observers noted that Begin spoke of a “Palestinian state” as unacceptable but did not mention Palestinian “self-determination,” which Israel also has rejected up to now. President Carter, in his Jan. 4 Aswan formula, proposed that the Palestinians be given the opportunity to participate in the determination of their future. Israel accepted that formulation but says now that Egypt has retreated from it.

Atherton told reporters, as he has in the past, that he was “not going to characterize each discussion in terms of progress or no progress.” “But,” he said, “I have to add that there are each time some new ideas that provide some new basis for progress.”

ROLE OF JORDAN

Owen arrived in Israel from Jordan yesterday for a two-day official visit. It was seen as timely because of Britain’s close links to Jordan and that kingdom’s crucial role in the peace process which it has yet to join. According to Dayan and other observers, Jordan’s continued absence from peace talks is the most serious obstacle to further progress and President Anwar Sadat of Egypt seems to be making the resumption of the political talks conditional on Jordan’s involvement.

Owen said on his arrival that Jordan felt the talks to date were “bilateral” and would consider joining them only if real progress was evident. He said he thought that attitude was “not unreasonable.” Owen also noted that Israel’s peace plan was presented originally as a scheme “for five years,” subject to review after that period.

This important aspect seems to be “lost sight of,” he said, at least in some Arab quarters where Israel’s proposals “tended to be seen as permanent.” He urged emphasis on the five-year aspect of the Israeli plan.

Asked whether Jordan would be prepared to break with Syria in order to join the Israeli-Egyptian negotiations, Owen said, “I think they are not going to make up their mind until they see a declaration of principles and until they get greater clarifications. I think they are very cautious about this and I think they don’t believe it necessarily requires breaking from Syria.” Owen met in Amman with Crown Prince Hassan. He conferred informally with King Hussein in London last week where the Jordanian monarch was on a private visit.