Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin is due here from Washington within the next few days, it was learned today, but sources differ as to whether his return home has to do with his Ambassadorial duties or his own political future. According to official sources, Rabin is coming here for consultations connected with President Nixon’s forthcoming trip to Moscow where matters of major importance to Israel are expected to be on the agenda of his talks with Soviet leaders.
(According to syndicated columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak, Israel fears that there will be “a US-Soviet deal at the expense of Israel during Mr. Nixon’s mission to Moscow.” They claim that Premier Golda Meir wants an assurance that Nixon “will bar any Middle East agreements” in his summit talks with Soviet leaders. According to Evans and Novak the Nixon administration is reacting to “these Israeli suspicions” with “extreme irritation.” Continuing, they noted:
“No matter how ephemeral a Nixon-Brezhnev agreement on the Middle East may be, Mr. Nixon’s top advisers deeply resent any effort by Israel to limit his freedom of negotiation at the Moscow summit.”)
Unofficially, it was said today that Rabin is seeking clarification from Labor Party leaders of his status as a possible Cabinet minister. The Israeli envoy to the US had been scheduled to terminate his duties in Washington several months ago but his tour was extended to the end of the present calendar year.
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