A diplomatic offensive was launched this week by the United States to assure Egypt that the Nixon administration is doing all it can to “persuade” Israel to soften its adament position that it will not return to its pre-June 1967 borders. According to Cairo sources here, U.S. Secretary of State William P. Rogers sent a letter this week to Egypt’s Foreign Minister Mahmoud Riad apprising him of the American approach. The key word in this reported letter appeared to be “persuade” rather than “pressure.” According to Cairo sources, Rogers’ letter also suggested that Egypt be patient and use restraint while the United States is trying to achieve this approach with Israel. (In Washington, the State Department today would not confirm whether Rogers had sent such a letter to Riad.)
President Nixon, in his “State of the World” message to Congress last Thursday, had stated that the Arab governments “will not accept a settlement that does not provide for recovery of territories lost in the 1967 war.” He added that without such an acceptance, “no settlement can have the essential quality of assured permanence.” It was also in this message that Nixon called for “insubstantial” changes in Israel’s pre-war borders. Meanwhile, there was a report that officials in Cairo let it be known that Egyptian forces along the Suez Canal had been placed on full alert. Diplomatic observers here, however, tended to view this more as a war of nerves than an indication that shooting would break out when the cease-fire expires March 7. The expectation among diplomatic circles is that there will be a de facto continuation of the cease-fire rather than a formal extension.
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