State Department Mum on Photographic Evidence; Parleys Held with Russians, Egyptians

The State Department declined comment today on Israel’s photographs said to prove Egyptian violations of the standstill cease-fire in the form of missile buildups within the cease-fire zone. Asked whether the Department had any reaction to the photographs, spokesman Robert J. McCloskey replied: “No.” He said he could not comment on whether United States reconnaissance has produced similar pictures. He said the Administration did not receive a reaction from the Soviet Union at a U.S.-Soviet ministerial meeting yesterday in Moscow. A U.S.-Egyptian meeting on the issue was held in Cairo yesterday, he added. It was reported that the State Department had also presented its “inconclusive” evidence to Soviet officials and to the top Egyptian official in the capital. Minister Ashraf Ghorbal. (In Cairo, the official Middle East News Agency said the State Department’s report had “exposed the weakness of the U.S. government toward Zionist pressures,” and reported that Egypt would continue to ignore Israeli allegations of standstill violations.)

Mr. McCloskey said the U.S. had informed the Soviets of its “not conclusive” findings in the matter by means of “an oral presentation.” Asked whether Israel would go ahead with peace talks despite the missile controversy, the spokesman replied: “You would have to ask Israel.” (In New York last night, the United Nations’ special Middle East peace envoy. Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring, met with Israeli Ambassador Yosef Tekoah and received from him a letter from Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban which stated that his government prefers that the peace talks be held in the Middle East or in Europe and on the ministerial level. Egypt and Jordan prefer conferences in New York at the ambassadorial level. Mr. Eba-noted that Dr. Jarring’s first round of Israeli-Arab talks two years ago was on the Foreign Ministerial level, and noted that the designation of lower-ranking officials now would imply a downgrading of negotiations. Holding the talks in the Mideast or Europe, Mr. Eban stated, would allow quicker communication with the governments of the involved parties. UN spokesmen would neither confirm nor deny that Israel officially has told Dr. Jarring that she was prepared to begin peace negotiations. Mr. Eban’s letter did not mention that aspect of the matter, the Israeli Mission said.)

MCCLOSKEY SILENT ON REPORT THAT MRS. MEIR’S REQUEST FOR CEASE-FIRE LANGUAGE IGNORED

Mr. McCloskey declined comment on a report in today’s Washington Post by columnist Joseph Kraft that the Department’s use of “the cheap lawyer’s trick of ducking issues with documents” had “poisoned subsequent relations between this country and Israel.” Mr. Kraft wrote that Israeli Premier Golda Meir telephoned Assistant Secretary of State Joseph J. Sisco on Aug. 6 “to draw urgent attention to a point in the frame of reference for the negotiations that would follow a cease-fire.” Israeli Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin was called to the State Department the next morning by Secretary of State William P. Rogers, Mr. Kraft said, but left when he was told that Mr. Rogers “was not available.” Gen. Rabin was then summoned for a 2:30 p.m. meeting, the columnist wrote, and “This time the ambassador cooled his heels for half an hour while the Secretary finished his lunch.” Then, Mr. Kraft continued. “He (Gen. Rabin) was