Silence on Soviet Emissaries’ Visit

Israeli officials continued to maintain a stony silence today on a report that two Soviet emissaries visited Premier Yitzhak Rabin and Foreign Minister Yigal Allon here last week to sound out Israel’s position on reconvening the Geneva conference and its position on an overall peace settlement with its Arab neighbors. The report was published Friday in Haaretz by the newspaper’s political correspondent, Mati Golan. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said, “I am not confirming, neither am I denying the story.” There has been no comment from any official quarters here since then.

According to Haaretz, the Soviet emissaries were not official representatives of the Kremlin but “persons close to the Soviet administration.” Their visit to Israel was the latest in a series of meetings between Israeli and Soviet officials on various levels, including alleged meetings between Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz and Soviet Ambassador Anatoly F, Dobrynin in Washington, Haaretz claimed.

According to Golan, the main theme of the reported meeting here was an exchange of views on the possibility of resuming the Geneva talks. The Soviet emissaries allegedly reported that the USSR was interested in their resumption because Moscow could not allow the political situation to stagnate which could lead to a new Middle East war and a possible confrontation with the U.S.

The envoys reportedly tried to convince the Israeli leaders that Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger’s step-by-step approach had definitely failed and therefore Geneva offered the only opportunity to reach a settlement in the Mideast; sought to allay Israeli fears by suggesting Soviet guarantees of Israel’s pre-June 4, 1967 borders and the resumption of diplomatic relations between Israel and the USSR; and reportedly said Moscow would not insist on the participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Geneva if Israel agreed that PLO representatives could be included as members of other Arab delegations.

According to Golan, the Israeli leaders, asked what Israel would demand in exchange for its return to the 1967 lines, replied that Israel would demand a full peace agreement and changes in the 1967 borders but Israel has not yet decided what position it would adopt at Geneva. Golan quoted “senior officials” here as saying that the Soviet initiative probably came as a result of the cooling relations between Israel and the U.S. in the after-math of Kissinger’s failure to promote a second-stage Israeli-Egyptian agreement in Sinai.