The Geneva conference is waiting for the visits of Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan to Washington tomorrow and Egyptian Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy to Moscow on Saturday to give “new life” to the disengagement talks now taking place here. Conference circles increasingly tend to believe that no major progress can be made at these talks without some sort of Intervention by the Soviet Union and the United States. Egypt’s military negotiators had talks today over lunch with Soviet Ambassador Vladimir Vinogradov. No details of the talks at the Soviet Mission were disclosed.
The two delegations, Israel and Egypt, met for nearly three hours yesterday only to discover that though they agreed on certain basic “principles” they were in disagreement as to their practical application. The two delegations had agreed during their first two meetings last week on the necessity for an Israeli withdrawal and on the fact that such a move is and should be considered as a first step towards ultimate peace. The two sides have failed to reach agreement, however, on what the depth of Israel’s withdrawal should be or what concessions Egypt should make to counterbalance Israel’s surrender of occupied territory.
It is understood that the Egyptians still resist the very notion of “reciprocity” and continue to claim that Israel’s withdrawal from “Arab land” does not warrant any military or political concessions.
A brief communique issued by the two sides through the United Nations yesterday evening said that “an important stage has been reached in the discussion.” Sources close to the conference told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency here today that the word “important” should not be interpreted with either optimism or pessimism. “It is just a statement of fact” the source said, adding, however, that it seems unlikely that this stage can be passed without new political directives from the two governments.
At yesterday’s meeting, the chief Israeli negotiator, Maj. Gen. Mordechai Gur stressed that the non-observance of the cease-fire agreement by the Egyptians endangers the success of the talks. He is reported to have said that no serious progress can be made in a climate of continuing fighting and shooting.
The head of the Egyptian military delegation, Maj. Gen. Tahal el Maghdoub, is reported to have claimed that the new incidents “on the contrary make the solution to disengagement more urgent” than ever before. Reliable sources claim that the Egyptian pointedly refrained from promising that no such incidents will occur in the future. On the contrary, these sources said, he seemed to imply that unless Israel withdraws more such flare-ups can be expected.
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