Navon, on Official Visit to Washington, Will Meet Reagan

Israeli President Yitzhak Navon will arrive here tomorrow morning for an official working visit in which he will meet with President Reagan at the White House.

The White House meeting will take place Wednesday morning after which Reagan will hold a luncheon for the Israeli President. Upon their arrival at Andrews Air Force base tomorrow, Navon and his wife, Ofira, will be greeted by Secretary of State George Shultz and his wife, Helena Shultz.

Navon will not have the hectic round of meetings with government officials as is the case when Premier Menachem Begin or other top-ranking members of the Israeli government come here. The Israeli President is head of the state but his duties are largely ceremonial. The Premier is the head of the government.

In addition, there is a feeling here that the Reagan Administration does not want to be accused, in Israel, of seeming to promote Navon as an alternative to Begin. The popular Israeli President, a Sephardi and fourth-generation Jerusalemite, is frequently being mentioned as a Labor Party candidate in the next election.

However, Navon will be making a major address before the National Press Club Thursday, and during the question and answer session at the luncheon, he probably will be asked not only about events in Israel but about his own political future.

WILL ADDRESS JEWISH COMMUNITIES

Meanwhile, Navon, who has frequently stressed the need for aliya before Jewish audiences, will devote much of his visit in Washington and in Boston and New York to speaking to the Jewish community. A dinner for Navon and his wife is being hosted tomorrow night by the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington, which is also sponsoring an address by the Israeli President to the Jewish community at the Washington Hebrew Congregation Wednesday.

Also on Navon’s schedule in Washington is a breakfast meeting with Lane Kirkland, president of the AFL-CIO, and visits to Mount Vernon, and the Library of Congress, particularly its Judaica collection. Ambassador Moshe Arens and his wife, Muriel, will host a reception for the Navons at the Israel Embassy Wednesday night.

On Thursday afternoon, Navon will go to Baltimore where the Jewish community will sponsor a reception for him at Convention Hall. Later that evening, he will receive an honorary degree from Johns Hopkins University, preceded by a reception hosted by the university’s president, Steven Muller.

Navon leaves Washington Friday, morning for Boston and goes to New York on Sunday.