Soviet Union Tells Israel Any Big 4 Proposal Will Require Departure from Territories

The Soviet Union advised Israel today that any Big Four proposal for Mideast peace will oblige Israel to quit the occupied territories. The Communist Party newspaper Pravda declared that if Israel tried to remain in the territories, it would face concerted pressure from the United States, Britain, USSR and France. A signed article by “Observer,” giving it the force of a semi-official statement, said that “under no conditions or in no case can Israel count on acquisition of Arab territories.”

The newspaper expressed assurances that the “Big Four talks can become an effective means of ensuring the implementation of the November (1967) United Nations resolution.” It warned Israel that its leaders “should clearly understand how dangerous for Israel itself are the consequences of those provocations it commits on Arab territories.” The article was published before today’s Israeli reprisal raid deep inside Egypt.

(The Soviet Union continued to build up its Mediterranean naval power, with the numerical strength of its fleet now believed to equal that of the United States Sixth Fleet in the area, creating a situation of unprecedented Soviet naval power.

(The Big Four reportedly made little progress yesterday in their sixth meeting but have started to deal with the Palestine refugee problem, a UN source said. A working party was set up to appraise the progress of the talks and will draw up a list of those issues on which the Ambassadors agree and disagree.

(The talks, the seventh of which is slated for next Tuesday, have focused on methods of carrying out the Nov. 22, 1967 resolution which delineated principles for settling the Mideast dispute. It was indicated that there has been no progress on the issue of Israeli withdrawal from occupied areas.

(Informed sources said that the most important discussions are being carried on in Washington between Joseph Sisco, Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs, and Soviet Ambassador Dobrynin. Points of agreement reached in the capital are then reflected in the Four Power talks at the UN which are aimed at spelling out details and reconciling other differences. For this reason whatever changes occurred in the French position as a result of President de Gaulle’s departure–it has been close to the Soviet one–are not expected to have much bearing on the talks. A French proposal that Egypt and Jordan, on the one hand, and Israel on the other, issue declarations of intent to implement the resolution has not been brought to an agreement.)