American diplomacy sought today to prepare firm ground for the trilateral Middle East summit starting Sept. 5 amid signs that Egypt has agreed to the Comp David meetings on a U.S. commitment that it would persuade Israel to yield much further on withdrawals from the West Bank and Gaza.
Key U.S. diplomats flew to Saudi Arabia and Israel and scheduled a visit to Jordan for extended discussions with these governments even as Jordan’s Foreign Minister, Hassan Ibrahim, announced that Jordan would not enter any negotiations unless Israel pledges withdrawal from all occupied areas and recognizes Palestinian rights. Ibrahim’s statement followed acknowledgement by Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in Alexandria that the Carter Administration was to play a role as “a full partner” in the search for peace.
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who has been clamoring for months for the U.S. to be a “full partner” and not a mere mediator in the peace process, was described as “elated” by Vance’s words. Sadat declared the peace process has turned “a new page.” Vance and Sadat met with the media after the two had conferred a second time in Alexandria.
The State Department today refused to define the meaning of “full partner,” saying that Vance would be returning to Washington this evening and he or his chief spokesman, Hodding Carter, would explain it. Whether Vance would meet with President Carter tonight or tomorrow was left open.
SOME CONFUSION OVER ‘FULL PARTNER’ VIEW
Some confusion has arisen over the Vance commitment to the “full partner” role. Egyptian officials, taking their com from Sadat, said it is a “new element” in the U.S. position favorable to Sadat. Vance was quoted as saying, “we have always indicated we were prepared to play a role as a partner, even as a full partner,” but whether Vance was indicating a play on words or meant that he and Carter were to inject themselves into the negotiations with concrete proposals was not clear.
The concern is that with neither Sadat nor Israeli Premier Menachem Begin having retreated from their present positions, Carter is left in a posture of bridging gaps in only three weeks. Begin is prepared to compromise on land and governing authority in lands Israel administers, but Sadat is demanding that “not a single inch of Arab land” remain in Israeli hands.
A State Department spokesman, Thomas Reston, told reporters that the visits of American diplomats to Saudi Arabia and Jordan “obviously” are follow-ups on Vance’s journeys to Israel and Egypt and is “normal procedure to keep Jordan and Saudi Arabia informed on the peace process.”
Ambassador-at-Large Alfred Atherton was to be in Taif today for a two-day visit with Saudi officials and then he will fly to Amman Aug. 11 for two days with the Jordanians before returning to Washington. William Quandt, a member of the National Security Council staff, will be in Israel today and tomorrow, returning to Washington Friday.
Reston said he was not in a position to discuss possibilities of a preliminary meeting of the foreign ministers of Israel, Egypt and the United States before the heads of those states convene in the Presidential retreat in the Maryland mountains. This will be the first time Carter, Sadat and Begin will meet together.
LAST DITCH EFFORT SEEN
Although U.S. sources continue to say that Carter will not propose a U.S. plan for a Middle East settlement, they were also saying that he will be prepared to make suggestions on specific issues which they do not define. The sources were referring to the Camp David sessions as a last ditch effort to avoid a breakdown in the Egyptian-Israeli liaison and echoed the view of Senator Jacob Javits (R. NY) that the meeting is a “gamble” with uncertainty of the consequences if it fails.
Information from Alexandria received here indicated that Sadat’s agreement to meet Begin apparently is aimed at bringing the strongest possible U.S. pressure to bear on the Israelis. Sadat was described as hoping that by engaging Carter in the summit, he may finally obtain an Israeli commitment to withdraw from occupied territories. Should Sadat fail to obtain that commitment, he will then claim he has gone the limit in his peace search and let the blame for failure fall on Israel, as he has often done in the past.
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