U.S. Going Beyond Role of Mideast Broker; Trying to Influence Israel on Interim Pact

Indications emerged here today that the United States role in current efforts to bring about an interim arrangement between Israel and Egypt to reopen the Suez Canal is more than that of an intermediary. Information from reliable though unofficial quarters implied that the U.S. was in fact seeking to influence Israeli terms for an interim arrangement. There were also indications that the U.S. favors the participation of United Nations mediator Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring at some stage in the negotiations for an interim agreement. The U.S. received Israel’s terms this week. They were officially defined in Jerusalem as “principles” rather than proposals. But the U.S. government appeared to be in no hurry to convey them to Cairo. Officials here said today that Israel’s views have not yet been transmitted to the Egyptian government or any other governments, including the Big Four, State Department spokesman Charles Bray said at today’s news briefing that he assumed “we will convey them (Israel’s terms) in due season” to the Egyptian government. Asked if the Israeli views were conveyed to Dr. Jarring who is presently at his diplomatic post in Moscow, Bray replied, “That is my understanding.” He added, in reply to a reporter’s question, “you can assume they were conveyed through the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.” Asked if Dr. Jarring was conveying the Israeli views to any other parties, Bray said, “I have no idea.”

There was some speculation that the U.S. might not object if the UN envoy were somehow to convey Israel’s views informally to Cairo to test reaction. The semi-official Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram claimed yesterday that Egypt has already rejected Israel’s terms. The paper did not say when or how Egypt received them. Some observers here believe the present stage of negotiations for an interim settlement in the Suez Canal zone are between Jerusalem and Washington rather than between the two parties to the conflict. The U.S. may be trying to get Israel to modify its terms to make them more acceptable to Egypt, some observers speculated. Egypt’s diplomatic representative in Washington, Arshaf Ghorbal, visited the State Department yesterday. Officials insisted that the subject of an interim arrangement was not discussed. Bray said today that the U.S. considers the military balance in the Middle East to be “in balance.” A report carried by the New York Times Monday that the U.S. was delivering 12 more Phantom jets to Israel to offset the Soviet delivery of advanced fighter aircraft to Egypt was characterized by him as inaccurate in “fact and by implication.” He said the facts of “the nature of the U.S. military supply relationship with Israel” were conveyed to the party concerned on “a government-to-government basis.”