Kissinger Says Egypt Rejects Non-belligerency Pact but Not More Modest Agreement in Sinai

Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger returned to Israel tonight and reportedly informed its leaders that Egypt flatly rejected the idea of a non-belligerency pact but was interested in a more modest second-stage agreement in Sinai. Kissinger was also reported to have conveyed to the Israelis a renewed interest on the part of Syria for a second-stage agreement on the Golan Heights.

The Secretary, who travelled from Ben Gurion Airport to Jerusalem by car, immediately went into meetings with Premier Yitzhak Rabin and other key leaders to report on his talks in Cairo with President Anwar Sadat yesterday and today, and his meeting just before returning to Israel with President Hafez Assad of Syria in Damascus.

Reports from Cairo during the day, some of them apparently emanating from Kissinger’s press briefing there, indicated that second-stage negotiations would now center on very limited concessions by both Israel and Egypt. Israel is expected to stand by its original offer of a 30-50 kilometer (19-31 miles) pull-back in Sinai which would not include the Gidi and Mitla passes or the Abu Rodeis oil fields. Egypt, for its part, was said to be prepared to extend the present disengagement agreement, policed by United Nations forces, for another 18 months after the UN mandate expires this spring.

CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM OVER ACCORD WITH EGYPT

Official sources here did not reject Cairo’s proposals out of hand but expressed serious reservations over the reported time span, and were apparently disappointed by Egypt’s unwillingness to contemplate any of the political concessions Israel has called for. The officials insisted that Israel will not relinquish any territory in Sinai for nothing more than an extension of the present cease-fire.

Israeli sources made it clear that any extension would have to be for longer than 18 months. They also insisted that Egypt would have to give its undertaking to refrain from hostilities directly and publicly to Israel in the form of a signed commitment rather than in a secret understanding with the U.S. which is what Sadat is said to prefer. The sources, nevertheless, expressed “cautious optimism” over the prospects of a second-stage agreement.

A high American official aboard Kissinger’s plane enroute from Cairo to Damascus today told newsmen, “We are still in business,” referring to Israeli-Egyptian negotiations. The official said the situation was not as bleak as it might appear to be from the “rhetorical positions” taken by both sides. The official also said that Kissinger still planned to return to the Middle East next month.

ISRAEL INSISTS ON POLITICAL CONCESSIONS

Israel, meanwhile, is said to insist on at least some of the political concessions it has demanded from Egypt in return for even a modest second-stage agreement. These were said to include a toning down of Egyptian diplomatic and political hostility toward Israel; removal of the trade boycott; an agreement on direct transit for tourists between the two countries; and access to the Suez Canal for Israeli ships.

What officials here stressed most, however, was that no move would be made toward implementing any agreement that may be reached with Egypt unless and until it is clearly agreed that the accord remains valid through and beyond resumption of the Geneva peace conference. That was one of the main points raised by Israeli negotiators in their talks with Kissinger earlier this week and it will be repeated in their final round of talks tonight and tomorrow.

Israel is determined to ensure that an agreement with Egypt now will not be repudiated by Cairo in the event that the Geneva conference breaks up in deadlock. Israel insists that any partial or interim arrangement negotiated now must remain in force regardless of other developments, either at Geneva or in the Middle East. Israel is also adamant that an accord with Egypt must be totally unrelated to any future developments on the Syrian front.

SYRIAN ACCORD MUST BE SEPARATE

With regard to the latter, Israeli officials have not decided whether they will reconsider their obvious reluctance to apply the step-by-step method to the Syrian front where there is much less room to maneuver than in Sinai. A second-stage settlement with Syria, Israeli sources say, would almost certainly involve the dismantling of settlements established on the Golan Heights–a step bound to encounter bitter opposition at home, even within the government coalition.

The Israelis, in any event, have made it clear to Kissinger that they will not countenance any attempt to use a settlement with Egypt to exact further withdrawals on the Golan Heights.

Kissinger’s party entered Jerusalem tonight by an alternate route through the suburb of Ein Karem, having been warned in advance that demonstrators were trying to bar the main entrance to the city. The demonstrators were youthful members of the militant Herut and Gush Emunim movements which are opposed to Israel’s giving up any Arab territories whatsoever and demand free settlement rights for Jews on the West Bank. They sat astride the Jerusalem highway singing and chanting until forcibly removed by police.