Official circles here said this morning that Israel would “gladly welcome” a visit by U.S. Secretary of State William P. Rogers. They said however that there was no official confirmation from Washington that Rogers intends to visit Israel. (In Washington, the State Department would not confirm today press reports that Rogers will visit Middle East capitals early next month following a meeting of the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO) powers in Ankara, Turkey at the end of April. It was learned unofficially that May 8 has been set as the target date for Rogers’ return to Washington. The CENTO meeting ends May 1. giving the Secretary of State a full week to visit Mideast countries. According to unofficial reports here Rogers would probably extend his visit to include Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia.) Rogers will be the first American Secretary of State to visit Cairo since the late John Foster Dulles conferred with Egyptian leaders in 1953. Michael Sterner, chief of the State Department’s Egyptian desk, is presently in Cairo, reportedly to make arrangements for Rogers’ visit Diplomatic sources abroad said today that Rogers did not consider it politic to visit the Middle East as long as an impasse existed between Israel and Egypt. But after receiving Israel’s terms for an interim arrangement with Egypt to reopen the Suez Canal this week he apparently decided that the opportune moment had come for a visit without risking charges that the U.S. was interfering to break the deadlock the sources said.
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