President Anwar Sadat of Egypt today placed his hopes for a revival of his peace initiative on the forthcoming shuttle by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Alfred Atherton, whose aim would be to bridge the gap between Egypt and Israel.
He also told reporters at London Airport in the presence of British Premier James Callaghan that he still recognized the importance of Israel’s need for security and hoped that his declarations to this effect, and his statements that “the October (1973) war should be the last,” would lead to a new momentum in the peace initiative.
However, Sadat affirmed, peace was only possible “if the right conception prevails on the other side,” adding that the two main problems remained Palestinian self-determination and Jewish settlements in the occupied territory.
Sadat then spelled out six mechanisms for ensuring Israeli security: demilitarized zones; limited armament zones; early warning stations; United Nations forces in the demilitarized zones, a United Nations presence at Sharm el-Sheikh and Egypt’s recognition of the Tiran Straits as an international waterway; and a combined Israeli-Egyptian committee to look after all these arrangements.
Callaghan, introducing Sadat following their 40-minute tete-a-tete in the airport’s VIP lounge, welcomed the Egyptian leaders’ acknowledgement of Israel’s need for security “within her own borders,” adding that “otherwise there will be no peace in the Middle East.” Sadat, Callaghan added, was “engaged very seriously in seeking a settlement” and both of them rated the Egyptian leader’s trip to Washington a success. Immediately after the press conference, Sadat left for West Germany.
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