Sol Linowitz, President Carter’s special Ambassador to the Middle East, arrived in Israel from Egypt today and declared he sees “real progress” being made in the autonomy talks.
Linowitz, who is scheduled to represent the U.S. at the next round of negotiations between the Israel and Egyptian ministerial teams to be held at Herzliya Thursday and Friday, is trying to bridge the wide gap between the Israeli and Egyptian blueprints for autonomy on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The American envoy conferred in Cairo over the weekend with President Anwar Sadat, Egyptian Prime Minister Mustapha Khalil and Defense Minister Kamal Hassan Ali. He met in London last Saturday with King Hussein of Jordan but was apparently unable to persuade him to join in any talks based on the Camp David accords.
Linowitz was scheduled to meet tonight with Interior Minister Yosef Burg, head of the Israeli negotiating team, and tomorrow morning with Premier Menachem Begin. Earlier today in Cairo, an American official reportedly said the U.S. was beginning to play a more active role in the negotiations and was presenting its own ideas to Egypt and Israel. It was time for the “necessary political decision,” the official was reported as saying.
POINT-BY-POINT REBUTTAL
Meanwhile, the Israeli working group on autonomy was occupied today drafting a point-by-point rebuttal to the Egyptian autonomy proposals submitted last night by Ezzar Abdul-Latif, head of the Egyptian working group. The Israeli team is headed by Haim Kubersky, Director General of the Interior Ministry, and Ruth Lapidot, legal advisor to the Foreign Ministry.
While rejecting the Egyptian blueprint, the Israeli team has avoided the totally negative language that characterized Egypt’s rejection of Israel’s autonomy “model” last week. Their chief argument is that the Egyptian proposals deviate sharply from the Camp David framework and, in several aspects, endanger Israel’s security.
The Egyptian plan calls for an autonomous authority composed of legislative, executive and judiciary branches. Israel regards these as essential attributes of a sovereign state for the Palestinians which it categorically rejects. The Israeli autonomy scheme calls for an administrative council with strictly limited functions and no parliamentary type body.
ELEMENTS OF EGYPTIAN PLAN
The plan submitted by Egypt would require the Israeli army to obtain permission from the autonomous authority to move troops into the autonomous territory, or from the “specified security locations” into which the Israeli forces must withdraw under the Camp David framework. Egypt also demands the immediate annulment of Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem which, it insists, must serve as the “seat” of the autonomous institutions.
The proposal leaves no “residual” powers to the Israelis. State lands and water resources would be administered by the autonomous authority. The Egyptian plan implies that foreign policy for the territories would not be controlled by the autonomous authority but neither would it be controlled exclusively by Israel. The autonomous regions would have no defense forces but would command a police force solely responsible for internal security.
Abdul-Latif said in an interview that Egypt took it for granted that there would be coordination between Israel and the autonomous authority in many areas such as water resources. But this would have to be determined through negotiations, not by dictation, he said.
Under the Israel model, Israel would retain exclusive control of defense, security, foreign policy, state lands, natural resources, currency, postage stamps, communications, radio and television. The use of water resources would be a “shared” responsibility under the Israeli plan.
POSITION ON JEWISH SETTLEMENTS
The Egyptian plan calls for the eventual dismemberment of Jewish settlement in the territories within the context of a final settlement. In the interim, the Egyptians want a freeze on new settlements and insist that existing settlements and their inhabitants must come under the jurisdiction of the autonomous authority. The Israeli scheme specifically excludes the settlements from any but Israeli jurisdiction.
Abdul-Latif acknowledged that the differences between the Egyptian and Israeli proposals are vast but said making them public in advance of the next round of talks was useful in “articulating and clarifying” the areas of dispute. He said it will be up to American diplomats to seek a common ground. But he seemed to feel that a summit level input by Sadat and Begin will be necessary if the logjam is to be broken.
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