U.S. Ambassador Samuel Lewis told newsmen, after a meeting with Premier Menachem Begin this morning, that there may be a meeting between Begin and President Carter in the weeks ahead. But arrangements for such a meeting were not finalized. The American envoy also said that the prospects for progress in the Middle East peace-making process were “promising.”
In that connection, he noted that Assistant Secretary of State Alfred Atherton “will be returning very shortly to resume his mission to try to help complete work on a statement of principles” that Israel and Egypt could agree upon.
Lewis’ meeting with Begin today was his second since Saturday night when tensions were high between Israel and the U.S. on the issue of Israeli settlements. While Lewis refused to comment on the substance of that dispute today, he described U.S.-Israeli relations to reporters as “close, warm, friendly and constructive.” He said “I have never believed that close and friendly relations preclude misunderstandings and disagreements–and we have them.” He added, however, “but there has certainly been nothing fundamentally changed about the strength of this relationship.”
Begin indicated that he would respond personally in a scheduled Knesset debate tomorrow on the state of U.S.-Israeli relations. He is expected to use the occasion to further de-escalate the dispute over settlements.
HOPING RANCOR WILL SUBSIDE
Meanwhile, officials here are hopeful that the Carter Administration will utilize the presence of Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan in the U.S. to mollify Israel in the current dispute over settlements and the Palestinian question. Dayan is to meet with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in Washington on Thursday. This will present the Administration with an opportunity to take the sting out of its conflict with Jerusalem, circles here said today.
It is believed that both the U.S. and Israel hope that when Atherton returns to the Middle East next week, public rancor will subside and Atherton will be able to continue his efforts to obtain Israeli-Egyptian agreement on a “declaration of principles.”
But for the time being, Israel still regards Vance’s remarks last Friday that Israeli settlements in Sinai violate international law and should not exist as representing an important change in American policy. According to Israeli officials there is a world of difference between claiming that the settlements are illegal, as the U.S. has done in the past, and saying that they should not exist.
The former merely means that the U.S. cannot extend de jure recognition to the settlements but the latest statement by Vance implies that the settlements must be dismantled, sources here pointed out.
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