Mrs. Meir Rejects Sadat’s New Plan, Favors Canal Reopening, for United Jerusalem

Premier Golda Meir today flatly rejected Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s terms for an interim arrangement leading to the reopening of the Suez Canal. But she told the 3,000 delegates and foreign visitors at the opening of the Labor Party convention that Israel favored the reopening of the waterway to free navigation by all nations and would willingly discuss proposals aimed at normalization of civilian life in the Suez zone and de-escalation of the military confrontation across the canal. But, said Mrs. Meir, “If recent statements attributed to President Sadat regarding the reopening of the Suez Canal are authentic, they cannot even be a basis for agreement with Israel.” Sadat’s proposals, reported by the official Middle East News Agency in Cairo last Thursday called for a partial withdrawal of Israeli forces from the canal’s east bank as a first stage toward total withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula. Egyptian forces would occupy the area, undefined by Sadat, as to extent, that would be evacuated by Israel. In return, Sadat offered to put the current de facto cease-fire on a formal basis for a limited time and to start work immediately to reopen the canal to international shipping. Despite Mrs. Meir’s curt dismissal of the Sadat offer, evidence mounted that Israeli leaders were seriously considering an “interim solution” of the Middle East conflict that would establish a formal armistice with Egypt though not a formal peace settlement.

Apparently under study at the highest government levels were sets of circumstances that would permit the reopening of the canal while Israel and Egypt negotiated a broader settlement through United Nations mediator Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring, While Mrs. Meir’s remarks at the Labor Party convention were the first official response by Israel to the Sadat proposal, several Cabinet ministers close to the Premier have spoken publicly on the matter. Israel Galili, a Minister-Without-Portfolio who is one of Mrs. Meir’s “inner circle” said on an Armed Forces radio interview Friday that “Israel is prepared to discuss with Egypt the opening of the canal separately from other issues.” Deputy Premier Yigal Allon told political correspondents on the same day that Israel might accept a temporary arrangement along the Suez Canal if several conditions were met. He said the terms of an arrangement must not jeopardize the deployment of Israeli forces in the Sinai peninsula and must legal prohibit the renewal of warfare by Egypt. Allon said that an interim arrangement must be recognized by both sides as a step toward a final peace settlement. Mrs. Meir devoted much of her speech to a restatement of Israel’s position on the nature of a peace settlement with its Arab neighbors and the territories that Israel believes it must retain in order to assure its security. In substance her remarks differed little from what she told deputy editor-Douis Horon of the London Times in an interview published two weeks ago.

Mrs. Meir said Jerusalem would remain the capital of Israel in its present unified state, “never again to be divided,” but “appropriate arrangements will be made to safeguard the religious and universal status of the Christian and Moslem holy places with free access to them by members of all faiths.” She said the future borders between Israel and Jordan would be a subject for negotiation. But she stressed that Israel regards the Jordan. River as its defense boundary that no hostile forces can ever cross again. “The Golan Heights and Gaza will remain under our control and free passage southwards from Eilat will be safeguarded by Israel’s own independent forces.” Mrs. Meir said. The Sharm el-Sheikh strongpoint will be permanently connected with Israel by a “territorial continuity in accordance with the need for its defense against possible future attacks,” she told the assembled Labor Party members. The Premier was most emphatic in repeating her government’s opposition to Big Power guarantees and peace-keeping forces as “substitutes” for the kind of peace settlement Israel wants. She criticized “various proposals for an international force, including ideas raised by U.S. Secretary of State William P. Rogers that the Soviet Union should play a part in such a force.” The Soviet Union, she claimed, “is an active ally of Egypt which maintains a state of war against us.” She said the presence of Soviet forces on Israel’s borders would not add to security.