Special Ambassador Sol Linowitz met with Premier Menachem Begin for more than two hours today in preparation for the new round of autonomy talks between Israel, Egypt and the U.S. which begin tomorrow in Herzliya. Linowitz, President Carter’s representative to the talks, told reporters later that he had discussed some new American ideas with Begin. The Premier was to report to a special session of the Cabinet later today.
Linowitz indicated that he and Begin also discussed the four-point paper that Begin submitted to President Carter when they met at the White House two weeks ago. Israeli newspapers reported today that the American envoy brought Begin Egypt’s negative response to his four points.
BEGIN’S FOUR POINTS
According to Israeli officials, Begin’s paper “encapsulated” and “sharply defined” Israel’s position on key autonomy issues which, they said, has been consistent. The points are: security, both internal and strategic in the autonomous territories, must remain in Israel’s hands; Israeli settlements must remain under Israeli law and administration; the autonomous council will have administrative powers only, not legislative powers; the autonomous council shall be constructed to correspond to a dozen or so functional areas of jurisdiction, such as health and education among others.
The Egyptian position differs sharply and was reiterated this week. Cairo wants legislative powers for the autonomous authority, special negotiations to determine Israel’s security needs and the full withdrawal of the Israeli military government from the autonomous areas. Prime Minister Mustapha Khalil and Foreign Minister Butros Ghali are due in Israel today for the Herzliya talks which are tentatively scheduled to run through May 8 and then shift to Alexandria.
All parties have agreed that this next round of talks will run without interruption in an effort to reach an agreement by the May 26 forget date. Israeli sources concede that they do not expect a final agreement by that date but hope that progress will be sufficient to justify further negotiations beyond May 26. This appears to be the hope of the American and Egyptian negotiators as well. Egypt is especially concerned to be able to show the Arab world that the talks are visibly moving toward a credible degree of autonomy for the Palestinians on the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
On his arrival here, Linowitz spoke pointedly of “the many problems that still have to be overcome. “But he expressed his belief that the problems are solvable, “If we have the will and the determination,” adding: “History will not forgive as if we fail.”
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