Rabin Discloses Israel Offered to Meet Directly with Egyptian Leaders While Talks Were in Progress

Premier Yitzhak Rabin disclosed today that an Israeli offer to meet directly with Egyptian leaders was conveyed to Egypt by Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger while negotiations were still in progress for a second-stage Sinal agreement. But the Egyptians rejected such a meeting, Rabin said in interviews published in Maariv and Yediot Achronot.

The Premier also said that he continued to have faith in the basic soundness of relations between Israel and the United States despite the understandable disappointment in Washington over the failure of Kissinger’s mediation efforts and President Ford’s order for a reassessment of American policy in the Mideast.

Rabin said he had proposed a direct meeting with the Egyptians because Israel regards it as the most efficient way to achieve a settlement acceptable to both sides. He said that in Israel’s view, what cannot be achieved before the Geneva peace conference is not likely to be achieved at Geneva.

DIM VIEW OF GENEVA CONFERENCE

Two other Israeli leaders took a dim view of the Geneva conference. Foreign Minister Yigal Allon told a Labor Party meeting last night that he thought the chances of success at Geneva were less than the possible chances under Kissinger’s step-by-step approach. “There may be a setback there (at Geneva) even more serious than in the Kissinger talks,” he said. “At Geneva, with the composition of that meeting, do you think there are better chances?” he asked. Nevertheless, he said Israel would go to Geneva and make very careful preparations in advance.

Defense Minister Shimon Peres said if the Geneva conference is reconvened, Israel would face pressure from both the U.S. and the Soviet Union. He said Israel would use the Geneva conference to determine whether the Arabs are prepared for a full peace settlement. “When the Arabs say yes, then we can talk things through to the end,” Peres said. He observed that there are two stages to the peace process–the disengagement stage where the Arabs talked about territory and the Geneva stage where it will be Israel’s turn to talk about a political settlement.

ISRAELI PROPOSALS REJECTED

Rabin also disclosed in his interview that Israel had proposed that both it and Egypt reduce their military forces in an effort to diminish the danger of war. He said that Israel offered to shorten the period of compulsory military service from three years to 30 months if the Egyptians pared down their armed forces. This and other Israeli proposals aimed at reducing the chance of war were rejected by Egypt the Premier said.

Referring to relations with the U.S., Rabin said Washington’s disappointment over the failure of Kissinger’s mediation efforts was not unexpected. He said that at this stage, President Ford’s statements indicate that the U.S. is reassessing the Middle East situation. When this reassessment is completed, we shall hear about it, Rabin said, adding that “I do believe in the sound basis of relations between the two governments.”

He said that during the negotiations conducted by Kissinger, Israel had indicated its willingness to talk peace with both Syria and Jordan as well as Egypt. In the case of Syria, he said, because of the hostile attitude in Damascus and the geographical position, any agreement must be a direct transformation from the state of war to peace with no interim agreements. He said that he was confident that Israel was strong enough to defeat its enemies in the event of a new war.