Reports from Abroad Say U.S. Plans Call for Demilitarized Zone, 90-day’peace-pause’

Purported details of the new U.S. peace plan for the Middle East emerged In several foreign capitals today though officials in Washington remained silent. According to the reports, the plan calls for a 90-day “peace pause” and the creation of a demilitarized zone between Israeli and Egyptian forces facing each other across the Suez Canal. According to observers here, the fate of the Rogers plan is at the “crucial” stage which accounts for the refusal here to confirm or deny accounts emanating from abroad. The delicacy of the situation was evidenced by use of the words “peace pause” a euphemism for cease-fire. Israel has already stated flatly that it will not accept a cease-fire with any time limit attached. An account of the proposals in the Beirut press, inspired by high Lebanese officials, said the first phase of the Rogers plan would have Israeli and Egyptian forces each withdraw 12 miles behind their present lines, beginning July 1. The three-month hiatus would be employed to bring Israelis and Arabs together under the auspices or through the medium of United Nations special envoy Ambassador Gunnar V. Jarring. (Official sources In Jerusalem claimed today that the Beirut accounts were Inaccurate.) Washington Post correspondent Anatole Shub reported from Paris today that the U.S. initiative would establish a United Nations peace-keeping force on both sides of the Suez Canal and that Egyptian and Israeli forces would be required to withdraw six miles behind their respective lines. Control of the UN force would rest with the Security Council and it could be withdrawn only by unanimous vote, Mr. Shub reported.

“For Israel such a retreat would signify symbolic acceptance of the UN Security Council resolution of Nov. 22,1967…For Egypt, withdrawal from the canal would constitute acceptance of a local ceasefire…and thus renunciation of the war of attrition’ pledged by Egyptian President Nasser,” Mr. Shub reported. He also reported that according to diplomatic sources the Soviet Union has accepted the idea of Security Council control over UN peacekeeping forces. “If so, this would be a significant concession,” Mr. Shub wrote. U.S. officials confirmed that the Rogers plan envisioned a temporary cease-fire agreement and that it has been submitted to Israel and the Arab states as well as to the USSR, Britain and France. Reports from Lebanon said Arab governments had “leaked” details of the Rogers plan to the press to test popular reaction before taking an official stand. The plan has already been denounced by the “Voice of Assifa, the El Fatah radio station in Cairo. In Cairo today the semi-official Egyptian daily Al Ahrain said Egyptian officials considered the latest American proposals nothing but a modification of proposals made last year which Egypt rejected because they did not provide for Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai peninsula. Similarly, reports from Damascus said the U.S. plan was unacceptable to Syria because it made no provisions for Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.