Reliable sources here emphasized today that they believed that Joseph J. Sisco’s reported Middle East proposals represented not official United States State Department or Egyptian policy but the Assistant Secretary of State’s personal opinions and his impressions of the opinions of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. The sources have listed the following as the recommendations put to Israeli leaders by Sisco last week: An Egyptian troop crossing of the Suez Canal to involve only 750 soldiers, who will bear personal light weapons; an Israeli withdrawal from the canal in two stages, the final pullback point being the Mitla Pass some 20 miles east of the canal in Sinai territory; Israeli and Egyptian forces to be separated by a United Nations buffer force; and an 18-month cease-fire. Authoritative sources here deny categorically that the two-stage withdrawal idea was suggested by Israel. The denials were made following a claim yesterday by the newspaper Maariv that Israeli leaders had suggested to Sisco a “very minimal” Israeli withdrawal to permit a canal reopening, followed by a second stage of withdrawal “a few miles further back.”
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