Israeli sources said today that they had no knowledge of any move by President Nixon to have his national security advisor Henry Kissinger begin preparations for the negotiation of a Middle East peace settlement. The sources were commenting on a report published in the New York Times this morning by its columnist James Reston to the effect that Nixon told Kissinger to prepare the way for an American role in the Middle East peace talks.
The sources said it was highly unlikely that Nixon would give Kissinger such instructions without notifying Israel beforehand. The sources cautioned that Premier Golda Meirs recent talks in Washington with Nixon and other top U.S. officials should not be taken as an indication that Middle East peace was any nearer.
They claimed that the prospects for peace depended entirely upon the Arabs who have shown no signs of flexibility. They said no new ideas were advanced either by King Hussein of Jordan or by Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s special envoy Hafez Ismail in their recent meetings with Nixon.
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