News Brief

To support her opinion, Mrs. Meir quoted President Sadat’s June 2 speech to the Egyptian National Assembly in which he explained that he signed the pact because of “a new and fundamental matter” contained in Article Eight which states that Russia will continue to supply Egypt with military equipment and training in its use in order to strengthen Egypt’s “capacity to eliminate the consequences of aggression as well as increasing its ability to stand up to aggression in general.” Mrs. Meir quoted Sadat as saying, “The treaty adds to our struggle new guarantees which have until now been undefined.” Mrs. Meir’s list of conditions for an interim arrangement to reopen the Suez Canal contained nothing new. She insisted that such an agreement must be considered separate from an overall peace settlement and could by no means be regarded as the first step toward a total Israeli withdrawal from Sinai. She said Israel would agree to reopen the canal only if the cease-fire is extended indefinitely, no Egyptian or other forces cross the waterway and free passage through the canal is granted to all nations. She said Egypt would have to clear and operate the canal and agree with Israel on effective means for policing the agreement to deter possible violation. The debate that followed Mrs. Meir’s report was led by Menachem Beigin, leader of the opposition Gahal faction. Deigin’s response was low-keyed though he criticized government policy sharply. He claimed that Mrs. Meir’s policies not only failed to improve Israel’s image but failed to guarantee the nation’s future security. Haim Zadok, chairman of the Knesset foreign affairs and defense committee demanded that the U.S. make it clear to Moscow that it was prepared to intervene on Israel’s side at some stage in the Soviet-Egyptian campaign against Israel.