Israeli Foreign Ministry Denies Reports of Washington Pressure for New Concessions

An Israeli Foreign Office spokesman categorically denied tonight a report from Cairo to the New York Times alleging that Secretary of State Dean Rusk had sent Foreign Minister Abba S. Eban a note pressing him to accept demands by Egypt for indirect negotiations for a Middle East settlement. Israel has insisted on face-to-face talks. The spokesman said tonight, in response to questions, that there had been no pressure of any kind from the United States in regard to the form the negotiations with the Arabs should take.

The spokesman said a “continuous exchange of views” is taking place between Washington and Jerusalem but, he said, it was “unthinkable” that the State Department would divulge the content of the messages addressed to the foreign minister to another country.

The spokesman asserted that the United States had repeatedly stressed that it favored a solution to the Middle East dispute based on an agreement and obtained through negotiations. The United States has also made it clear, he added, that it was vital to start the negotiations as soon as possible. He noted that the United States reiterated at every opportunity American adherence to President Johnson’s five-point program for settlement of the Arab-Israeli dispute.

Other sources today stressed that both the United States and Britain favored roundtable talks between Israel and the Arabs under the chairmanship of United Nations special envoy Gunnar V. Jarring, and not indirect talks conducted by each side separately with him. Ambassador Jarring arrived at his Cyprus headquarters last night following conferences at the United Nations in New York. He is expected to visit Jerusalem shortly and also Cairo and Amman.