Sec. Council Meeting on Jerusalem Unlikely Before August, if at All, Diplomats Say

A Security Council meeting on Israeli practices in East Jerusalem, reported earlier as almost certain for the end of this month, will not be held until August, if at all, Western diplomats said today. They said most of the 15 members of the Council feel that nothing “productive” can come out of such a meeting until after the upcoming re-visit to Israel by the American Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, Joseph J, Sisco. It was announced by the State Department last week that Sisco would leave after July 26, but a Department spokesman declined today to disclose the exact date of departure. Diplomats here, however, said Sisco will leave Thursday for a five-or 10-day stay in Israel, meaning that he will not return to Washington until Aug, 2 at the earliest. He will then need additional time to report to his superiors.

Jordan’s desire for a Council meeting has been tempered for a long time, largely by American suasion, July had been thought to be the perfect time for king Hussein to assert himself in favor of a meeting and formally request it, since the Council president this month is Jacques Kosclusko-Morizet of France–an envoy and a Council member sympathetic to the Arab view. But while France “didn’t object” earlier to the proposed meeting, one diplomat said, she is “not enthusiastic at all now,” considering Jordan’s recent troubles with terrorists and the sheltering by Israel of terrorists fearing for their lives in Jordan. Even Syria, a country far more hostile to Israel than Jordan, is said to be against a Council meeting now, because of its anger at Amman for attempting to stifle the terrorists. The Council president for August will be Piero Vinci of Italy, and although Israel would rather not have the Council meeting at all, if it were unavoidable she would presumably prefer to have it under the chairmanship of the Italian rather than of the Frenchman, sources here said.