Robert Strauss, President Carter’s special Ambassador to the Israeli-Egyptian autonomy negotiations, arrived here this afternoon accompanied by a large delegation of American Middle East specialists. He will go to Cairo Tuesday and will attend the next session of the autonomy talks to be held in Alexandria Thursday and Friday.
This is Strauss’ first visit to the area in his new capacity. He is also President Carter’s special trade representative. He was greeted at Ben Gurion Airport by Interior Minister Yosef Burg, chairman of the Israeli negotiating team and other members. In a brief statement to reporters, Strauss said he hoped the negotiators – Burg, Egyptian Prime Minister Mustapha Khalil and himself – would follow the bold lead shown by President Anwar Sadat, Premier Menachem Begin and President Carter that resulted in the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty.
Strauss will meet with Begin early tomorrow morning and will spend most of the day in conference with Burg. He is due to see Begin again Tuesday. He will be taken on a helicopter four of the West Bank, before leaving for Egypt Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, the Israeli negotiating team met today with Begin participating to review the Egyptian proposals made last week for an agenda that would include definitions of the “aims and objectives” of the autonomy plan. The team will meet again on Wednesday, giving Burg and Begin on opportunity to review their discussions with Strauss, before a specific stand is taken on the Egyptian proposals.
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