Mrs. Meir’s Response to U.S. Peace Plan Sent to Nixon; More Moderate Than First Intended

Premier Golda Meir has sent President Richard M. Nixon her government’s response to the new American peace proposals for the Middle East announced by Secretary of State William P. Rogers ten days ago. According to reliable sources, the response was more “moderate” than initially intended because President Nixon’s television remarks on the Mideast last Wednesday went a long way to reassure Mrs. Meir and senior members of her cabinet of U.S. intentions to keep Israel strong. However, Israel is not entirely satisfied with the U.S. initiative. No details of the Rogers’ proposals were released, at the express request of the U.S. government. But purported details, leaked to the press in several foreign capitals included the establishment of a temporary cease-fire in the Suez Canal zone to be followed by a pull-back of Israeli and Egyptian forces to points 12 miles behind their present lines. In a speech to the Knesset last week. Premier Meir categorically rejected the idea of a cease-fire with a time limit attached. According to diplomatic sources here, Mrs. Meir’s reply to President Nixon was “courteous and restrained” and stressed, among other things that a strong Israel was the best guarantee for Mideast peace. She urged the United States to take note of the dangerous imbalance now prevailing in the region, the sources said. Her reply was said to have the full support of Foreign Minister Abba Eban.

Mr. Nixon, in his televised question-and-answer session with three network correspondents last Wednesday emphasized the gravity of the situation and stated that the U.S. had no intention of letting the military balance shift in favor of Israel’s enemies. But he indicated that the U.S. does not believe that such a shift has occurred. The daily, Haaretz, stated today that while President Nixon’s remarks were intended as a warning to the Soviet Union against its military involvement in Egypt, they came too late because Russia is already deeply involved. Haaretz quoted an Israeli Cabinet Minister whom it did not identify as warning that “The United States, in an effort to avoid a grave conflict with the Soviet Union, might resort to imposed solution.” (Mr. Eban, in a taped television interview broadcast in West Germany last night, said he did not believe any secret agreement existed between the U.S. and the USSR for a common peace settlement to be imposed on the Middle East. Mr. Eban said he could not recall any period in past history when a greater conflict existed between the interests of the two superpowers. He said he expected no special results from President Gamal Abdal Nasser’s current visit to Moscow and added that he saw little chance for peace between Israel and the Arabs because Russia resists every effort to achieve peace in the Mideast.) (A joint communique by Soviet leaders and President Gamal Abdel Nasser of Egypt, expected today, has been postponed until Thursday. The Egyptian leader, who suffers from diabetes and sciatica, was reportedly undergoing medical treatment in Moscow today.)

There was no indication here of when Mrs. Meir sent her reply to President Nixon, though it appears likely that it was after the President’s television appearance last Wednesday. When Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s Ambassador to Washington, returned to his post last week after being called home for consultations, he told newsmen prior to his departure that he carried no message from the Prime Minister to President Nixon. (Spokesmen at the summer White House at San Clemente, California, took pains yesterday to quash speculation that the Nixon administration is even remotely considering the likelihood of sending U.S. personnel to the Middle-East. The speculation was the outcome of a series of briefings at San Clemente and at the White House in Washington last week at which aides to the President emphasized his concern over the presence of Soviet military personnel in Egypt and said he was determined to do something about it. Yesterday however, they said it was at no time intended to suggest that American personnel might be sent to the region and in fact, such an option “is not even under consideration.” The spokesman expressed dismay that such an impression might have been left in the public mind. Sources close to the President said the Nixon administration has been making a conscious effort to stress the dangers of the Mideast conflict but did not intend to “frighten anybody with the thought of sending combat personnel or advisors.”) The unidentified Israeli Cabinet Minister cited by Haaretz today was quoted as saying, “With all due respect to President Nixon, no American verbal deterrence has ever removed one single Soviet expert.”