The Jewish Telegraphic Agency was reliably informed tonight that new Israeli proposals that Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger is taking to Egypt embody a certain softening of Israeli demands on the non belligerency issue. A well placed source told the JTA after Kissinger’s departure that Israel is giving Egypt a number of options which link greater or lesser concessions on its part to greater or lesser fulfillment of Israel’s demand for the practical components of non-belligerency.
The Cabinet met for 15 hours before it finally adjourned at 5 p.m. local time. The Israeli negotiators then met with Kissinger for the second time today and conveyed to him what Defense Minister Shimon Peres later described as Israel’s “complete proposal.” Before he left Jerusalem, Kissinger told newsmen he would be better able to judge tomorrow, after meeting with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, whether his present mission can still succeed. Peres said Kissinger was due to return to Israel late tomorrow.
The JTA learned that the Cabinet was split on some points. Mapam ministers and some others reportedly favored greater concessions than the majority would accept. Premier Yitzhak Rabin and Peres stood with the majority, the sources said. They said there was little prospect that the narrow scenario of a very limited Israeli withdrawal in Sinai would be revised inasmuch as Egypt totally rejects it. But as far as Israel is concerned, there are still options midway between the limited scenario and a broader one, the sources said.
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