The Mood in Washington the Count Down Begins

On the eve of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty signing tomorrow, the mood in political Washington is epitomized in phrases such as, “This is Jimmy’s show,” as President Anwar Sadat of Egypt said; “Peace at last,” and, “Will this thing stick – will it bring more peace or more trouble?”

Against a background of intensifying hostility by the anti-Sadat forces in Arab and Communist capitals, the treaty signing at the White House will be under skies that are predicted partly sunny or partly cloudly as nature astutely kept pace with the global political climate.

President and Mrs. Anwar Sadat were resting at the Egyptian Embassy today following their unexpectedly early arrival last evening. Sadat told Vice President Walter Mondale who welcomed them that he has come in the “holy pursuit of peace.”

Premier and Mrs. Menachem Begin arrived late today from New York. Last night in New York, after ### 75-minute meeting with Secretary of State Cyrus, Vance to tie up “loose ends” to the treaty package, Begin smilingly paraphrased Shakespeare to reporters, saying, “The question is, to sign or not to sign. And we sign.”

President Carter, who is receiving vast credit for his initiatives that led to the treaty signing, was back in Washington after addressing a town meeting yesterday in the western Oklahoma town of Elk City, keeping a commitment from his election campaign of returning there to speak.

THOUSANDS AT SIGNING CEREMONIAL

The signing itself on the lawn in front of the White House facing Pennsylvania Avenue is to have a still undetermined number of invited spectators – perhaps as many as 4000. All 531 members of the U.S. Congress and Washington’s entire diplomatic corps have been invited along with hundreds of others, including leaders of the American Jewish community.

While no representatives from the Soviet bloc and few Arab diplomats are expected to appear, interest will center on how many of the Third World countries will be represented.

Tomorrow night, some 1300 of the guests will assemble under a huge tent at the rear of the White House and sit down at 130 tables decorated with forsythia, hurricane lamps and tablecloths of yellow and green on white backgrounds. The menu calls for salmon, roast beef, hazelnut mousse and three wines.

At Sadat’s invitation, an Egyptian trio consisting of Omar Khorshed, playing guitar, Gamal Said Raheem, table drum; and Mohamed Helmy Ameen, electric, argon, will entertain, along with viollnist Yitzhak Perlman and pianist Pinchas Zukerman, vited by Begin, and Leontyne Price, invited by Carter.

To help meet the costs of the affair, the biggest since President Nixon entertained some 400 returned Vietnam prisoners of war and their families on the South Lawn, the White House said it has invited corporations to send representatives to the dinner at $1000 a plate.

HECTIC WEEKEND ACTIVITIES

Meanwhile a hectic round of activities took place over the weekend. Carter, in separate interviews with Israeli and Egyptian television declared his position toward the Palestine Liberation Organization as unchanged. To the Egyptians, he said he will talk with the PLO “immediately” if it accepts United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 and recognizes Israel’s right to exist. He did not say “immediately” to the Israelis.

In neither interview did Carter mention “preference,” as he did last year, that the West Bank’s future be related to Jordan. A top Carter Administration official, asked by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency about this omission, replied “Nothing has been done or decided regarding the PLO on the question you just raised.”

After saying the U.S. is in a “neutral position,” he added, “As we get into new negotiations” and “as new situations arise we will have to deal with them.” The impression he left is that the Carter Administration may have shifted away from a West Bank tie with Jordan which opposes the treaty and the Camp David accords.

The treaty package is made up, an Administration official said, of the treaty itself, three diplomatic economic and military annexes, two or three maps, two or three pages of minutes, several side letters and interpretations. There are, in addition, two U.S. Israeli memoranda, still incomplete. One deals with the U.S. oil supply guarantee for 15 years to Israel and the other on political assurances should the treaty dissolve or be violated.

The official said that nothing in the treaty package will require Congressional approval. The agreements on did to Egypt and Israel, however, will involve Congressional approval. Presentations to Congress are expected soon.