State Dept. Mum on Statement That Sadat Has Set Aug. 15 As End of Grace Period

Maintaining their policy of a minimum of public discussion on the Israeli-Egyptian situation, State Department officials declined to comment on the statements scheduled to be published tomorrow in the influential Cairo newspaper Al Ahram that Aug. 15 will mark the end of the grace period which the United States had requested for its latest efforts to reach a Mideast settlement. The Middle East News Agency, in a dispatch from Cairo, said the newspaper’s chief editor, Mohammed Hasanein Heykal, wrote in his weekly article that August 15 was the date set early in July after Egyptian President Sadat had received a letter from President Nixon and Secretary of State William P. Rogers. Heykal is quoted as writing that Sadat “personally had set the date taking all circumstances into consideration.” Heykal relates that Washington wanted to take an active role after playing the role of “mailman” for so long, and that Rogers’ visit to the area last May was made to learn the various governments’ respective positions so the U.S. could make proposals to get things moving.

Heykal writes that Sadat’s answer to the Nixon-Rogers letter encouraged the U.S. to continue its efforts to solve the crisis. But now Sadat is reported by Heykal to be concerned that Israeli occupation of Egyptian territory has entered its fifth year. Heykal also quotes Sadat as saying that on Sept. 1 “we will be approaching the establishment of the Federation of the Arab Republics of Egypt, Libya and Syria. We must enter the new federation with a firm decision.” After pointing to what he said was the failure of Assistant Secretary of State Joseph J. Sisco’s recent visit to Israel. Heykal concluded his article by saying that “this is not just a political or military battle, but a battle of nerves” to which Egypt must direct its policy “with steady nerves.”