Peres’ Meeting with Carter This Week

President Carter’s invitation to Israeli opposition leader Shimon Peres to meet with him next Thursday morning at the White House has not stemmed much comment here, although the invitation came while Premier Menachem Begin was here for his own conference session with the President last week.

The White House made no announcement of the visit by Peres. At the State Department, a spokesman said that it was not unusual for an opposition leader to meet with President Carter. Israeli sources here said that this was merely a courtesy call by Peres, since he will be in the United States on a seven-city tour for Israel Bonds and the invitation was no different than that given to former Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan, who also met with the President at the White House and with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, after he resigned as Foreign Minister.

These comments and the absence of a White House statement contrasted with reports here from Israel that the invitation to Peres indicated that the White House considered the days of Begin’s government were numbered.

However, when Begin returned to Israel Friday he said he has no objection to the meeting “as long as everybody remembers that Peres is the leader of the opposition. “Begin said that Vance informed him of the meeting while he was in Washington and said it was a routine matter. “If President Carter wants to see the leader of the opposition in Israel it is his right,” Begin said.

The meeting was arranged by the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv which then notified the Israeli Embassy in Washington. Some of Begin’s aides had believed that the meeting had been scheduled by the Israeli Embassy and had blamed Ambassador Ephraim Evron for failing to inform the Foreign Ministry. Peres leaves tomorrow for the U.S. In addition to meeting with Carter and his National Security Advisor, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Peres will also be a guest at a dinner hosted by former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger to which some 30 diplomats have been invited.