Sen. Charles Percy (R.III.) called on President Anwar Sadat of Egypt today to present his own peace plan “to be negotiated along with the peace formula offered by Israeli Premier Menachem Begin.” A refusal by Egypt to offer new conditions for peace would cause Egypt’s credibility to be “somewhat reduced before world opinion,” Percy declared in a speech on the Senate floor. He said he believes Sadat “means to have peace.”
“In view of Israel’s significant withdrawal in the Sinai in 1975 and Israel’s expressed willingness to withdraw from the total Sinai, it would seem that President Sadat could now proffer a peace formula in which he would fully take into account Israel’s legitimate security concerns,” Percy said. He noted that “the U.S. has stressed the need for Israel to modify her positions, but we have seen no evidence that equivalent pressures have been put on Egypt.”
According to Percy, after agreeing to sell advanced warplanes to Egypt and Saudi Arabia, the U.S. “should be in a position with those two nations to urge modifications of policy which would facilitate the resumption of negotiations and enhance the prospects for peace….At this moment, the ball is in the Arab court,” Percy said, “and I would hope some creative and imaginative plan would be forthcoming as a meaningful follow-up to President Sadat’s trip to Jerusalem last year.” Otherwise, Percy warned, Sadat’s breakthrough “like old soldiers, seems to be fading away.”
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