The White House and the State Department had no comment today on President Anwar Sadat’s sudden recall of his Foreign Minister Mohammed Ibrahim Kaamel from the Jerusalem talks and his summons to convene the Egyptian parliament Saturday.
The State Department referred all questions to Secretary of State Cyrus Vance in Jerusalem, as it has done for the past few days. White House Deputy Press Secretary Rex Granum said he had no response to Sadat’s move nor did he have any reaction to Premier Menachem Begin’s sharp words at a dinner in Jerusalem for the delegates to the political committee talks last night.
Asked if President Carter has been in telephone contact with either Sadat or Begin the spokesman replied, “All you can say is that there is no comment from the White House at this time.” It is understood, however, that the White House is engaged in assessing the circumstances developing from Sadat’s action and is receiving reports from the U.S. Ambassador in Cairo and from Vance in Jerusalem.
SCHINDLER: NOT A CAUSE FOR DESPAIR
Commenting on Sadat’s recall action, Rabbi Alexander Schindler, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, who had met with the Egyptian leader last week in Aswan, said in New York, that it “is dismaying but must be understood in the light of the tough negotiations in which Egypt and Israel are engaged and which inevitably must bring with them ups and downs.
“As I see it, it is not a cause for despair. Just as President Sadat’s meeting with Prime Minister Begin gave rise to unjustified euphoria, so we must not permit the latest development to cast us into unwarranted gloom.”
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