President Anwar Sadat is firmly opposed to Jordanian participation in the autonomy talks “at this stage” because it might jeopardize the entire peace process. He said that King Hussein had offered to join the Camp David meetings in September 1978 but that he, Sadat, had discouraged him because of the Jordanian ruler’s low esteem in the Arab world.
Sadat expressed his views in the course of a two### Conversation with former Premer ### a leader of the opposition Labor Party, who visited Cairo this week. An account of their meeting was published in Yediot Achronot today. Sadat said he objected to a Jordanian role because Hussein would try to prove that he is a greater Arab patriot than the Egyptian leader in order to receive an additional $200-$300 million subsidy from the oil producing states.
Rabin reportedly was surprised by Sadat’s attitude since he and the Labor Party in general believe that Israel eventually must negotiate with Jordan an the Palestinian issue. Sadat described the last 10 years as “years of success” and repeated his conviction that despite difficulties, the peace process with Israel has reached the point of no return.
He recalled that during the Camp David talks with President Carter and Premier Menachem Begin he received a telephone call from Hussein who was in London saying he was ready to join the talks. “It did not take me much time to realize that I should not let Hussein join the talks,” Sadat told Rabin, according to Yediot Achronot. “If I had consented, we never would have reached the Camp David accords. The man (Hussein) is known throughout the Arab world as a black sheep. The man in the street does not respect him,” Sadat said.
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