Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring’s visit here has been set for Friday, when he will meet with Foreign Minister Abba Eban, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned reliably today. The United Nation’s Middle East intermediary will leave Israel the same day and is not scheduled to see anyone else. The word in Foreign Ministry circles was that he has not given any indication of softening his year-old demand that Israel commit itself to withdrawal to the former international border with Egypt.
In an official announcement last night, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said Dr. Jarring had expressed a desire to come to Israel. As reported yesterday, he disclosed his desire to visit Jerusalem at a meeting yesterday morning on Cyprus with Israel’s ambassador to Nicosia, Rachamim Timor. The Israeli acquiescence was transmitted to the Swedish diplomat last night through Timor.
Dr. Jarring, who had weekend talks with Egyptian leaders in Cairo, will be coming to Israel at a time when it is evident that Israel sees an interim Suez Canal agreement as a more practical proposition than the overall solution sought under the Jarring mandate and at a time when Egypt has been denouncing the United States’ interim initiative and cheering the Jarring mission. The envoy last visited here in January 1971, when he conferred with Premier Golda Meir and Eban. His aide-memoire emphasizing Israeli withdrawal was issued shortly after, on Feb. 8.
WILL VISIT JORDAN BEFORE ISRAEL
(In New York, a United Nations spokesman said today that Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring’s visit to Israel Friday will be preceded by a visit to Jordan tomorrow. On Sunday and Monday, Dr. Jarring will report on his Mideast tour to UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim in Geneva.)
(In Washington, State Department spokesman Charles Bray declined comment on Dr. Jarring’s new round of Middle East talks, referring all such questions to the UN. Bray said the emissary had not informed the State Department of his activities in Cairo. He reiterated that the US-initiated efforts to achieve an interim agreement will go on parallel to the Jarring mission. “We remain available,” he said. “The two efforts are complementary.”)
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