No Apparent Accord Reached on Interim Arrangement, Jarring Talks

Secretary of State Rogers’ peace mission to the Middle East came and went with no apparent advancement toward an interim arrangement to reopen the Suez Canal or reactivation of the stalled Jarring talks. Rogers departed from Lydda Airport for Rome yesterday after a busy 43-hour visit to Israel during which he held two lengthy working sessions with Premier Golda Meir and her senior Cabinet ministers, briefly toured Old Jerusalem and, at the request of the Israelis, made a special flight over Sharm el-Sheikh. He sent his top aide, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Joseph J. Sisco, back to Cairo for further talks with President Anwar Sadat. But Rogers urged the news media not to “attach any undue significance” to Sisco’s back-tracking. There were indications that some progress had been made in Rogers’ talks with Israeli leaders on the issue of American guarantees against violation of any interim Suez agreement and that Israel was prepared to be more “flexible” on the distance it would withdraw from the east banks of the Suez Canal if that turned out to be the only stumbling block to an interim arrangement. It was clear however that Israel was committed to none of the proposals discussed with Rogers. Any commitment would have to be ratified by the full Cabinet and any withdrawal from the canal must be voted by the Knesset. The Rogers’ mission, which many observers agree has superceded the Jarring talks, at least for the time being, seemed to have accomplished little that could not have been done through the normal channels of communication between Washington, Jerusalem and the Arab capitals. The Secretary of State visited four Arab countries before he landed in Israel last Thursday. Sisco’s return to Cairo might have been unnecessary had Rogers’ party gone to Israel before Egypt. Rogers disclosed that Sisco’s return had been agreed to in advance with President Sadat “to further clarify some of the ideas that we discussed with him” in light of the visit to Israel. Obviously there was no important break-through in Jerusalem that had to be conveyed to Cairo. Nevertheless, Rogers called his brief sojourn in Israel “most worthwhile.” In a statement before leaving from Lydda Airport yesterday he said “The talks have resulted in further clarification of the views of the Israeli government.” He continued, “While we were in Cairo we had very specific discussions with the government of Egypt and I think that there has been some narrowing of the gap.”

Reliable sources told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Rogers’ assertion that there was “some narrowing of the gap” was not entirely an empty public relations gesture. The sources said that for the first time Rogers agreed to consider Israel’s request for American guarantees against Soviet and Egyptian crossings of the Suez Canal in case of an interim arrangement. Up to now, it was disclosed, the U.S. refused to offer any guarantees except in the event of an overall peace settlement. Press reports that Israel agreed to permit a “token” Egyptian armed force were vehemently denied. It was also reported here that Rogers extracted a promise form Sadat to give Washington more time to engineer a Mideast settlement. Sadat reportedly told Rogers that he will be free from the restrictions of the tripartite federation agreement until Sept. 1 when a plebescite is scheduled. The implication is that the current de facto cease-fire will continue until then. Rogers’ Mideast tour did little to reassure the Israelis and some aspects of it irritated them. The Secretary of State appeared to be going out of his way not to offend the Arabs during his stay in Israel. On his flight to Sharm el-Sheikh aboard the U.S. Air Force jet that brought him to Israel, he announced pointedly that the pilot was instructed not to fly over any Arab territory held by Israel. Before entering East Jerusalem, Rogers’ aides removed an Israeli flag from his limousine. Rogers further annoyed his hosts by cancelling a visit to a kibbutz which they had planned.