President Reagan told Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during his two days of talks here that the United States will stick to its commitment to Israel not to recognize or negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization until the PLO recognizes Israel’s right to exist and accepts United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.
This was disclosed today by Secretary of State Alexander Haig at a press conference at the State Department Haig said that when Sadat called for the United States to recognize the PLO, Reagan stressed the necessity of “American fidelity to its commitments” to Israel, Egypt and others in order to achieve progress in the Middle East.
Haig also disclosed that Reagan mainly listened to Sadat when they discussed the Middle East peace process and that the President told Sadat that he also wants to hear the views of Premier Menachem Begin, due here in September, before deciding how to proceed with the autonomy talks.
Haig said it was “too early to say” whether there would be a three-way summit between the United States, Israel and Egypt on autonomy for Palestinians on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. But, he stressed, a summit would be held only after all preparations were finished and would not be a negotiating session.
In discussing Sadat’s proposals for the PLO’s inclusion in the talks, Haig stressed that American commitments to all the parties are essential for creating conditions “in which the parties involved can accept the risks of peace.” He stressed that long-term objectives should not be allowed to “derail achieveable near-term progress.” He said that, in the near term, efforts should be made to “create conditions under which future progress can be realized under a realistic way.”
In that connection, Haig said the cease-fire achievements in Lebanon, while not directly related to the autonomy talks, are a “mutually reinforcing condition to efforts in the Mideast. He stressed that the Camp David process is the “realistic” method of reaching long-term goals in the future.
Haig, like Reagan, noted that the U.S. President and Sadat discussed the Soviet threat to the Middle East as well as the use of Soviet surrogates. When asked specifically if the PLO was one of these, Haig replied that he preferred not to classify the PLO as such, even though some factions of the PLO could be labeled under “that mantle.”
SADAT CANCELS VISIT TO AUSTRIA
Meanwhile, Sadat has cancelled a visit to Austria next week where he was scheduled to go on his way home. According to a report today in Egypt’s semi-official newspaper Al Ahram, his visit was ruled out after Austrian officials told Egyptian officials that there is “a large conspiracy” against Chancellor Bruno Kreisky.
Last month Austria’s Interior Minister Erwin Line said two Palestinian terrorist gunmen were believed to be in Austria and that Kreisky was a possible target. An Arab was convicted this week of smuggling arms into the Vienna airport.
Since his visit to Israel in 1977, Sadat has been surrounded by tight security against possible assassination attempts by Palestinian extremists. One such attempt was discovered by Israel and it was passed on to Egyptian authorities. Premier Menachem Begin of Israel referred to this today in a statement in Jerusalem. (See story P.I.)
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