U.S. Said Not to Expect Movement on Autonomy Talks Until After Israel Withdraws from Sinai

A senior State Department official confirmed that the Reagan Administration does not expect any movement on the autonomy talks between Israel and Egypt until after Israel withdraws from Sinai.

“We are intent first of all on assuring the Sinai withdrawal, that the Sinai turnover is accomplished as agreed,” Lawrence Eagleburg er, Assistant Secretary of State for Political Affairs, told reporters yesterday, at a luncheon meeting of the Overseas Writers. He said that after this is accomplished April 25, the U.S. must then do “everything we can” to achieve progress in the autonomy talks.

“We cannot lose sight of the fact that we must stay with the autonomy talks, Camp David, after we have gotten through the Sinai turnover,” Eagleburger said. He noted that this means a “tough haul” and stressed that many serious questions on autonomy may “get in our way” before an agreement is reached.

VIEW OF EUROPEAN PARTICIPATION

Eagleburger, who has concentrated on Europe in his State Department career, said he had to be “more careful” in answering questions on the Middle East than he was in discussing the situation in East and West Europe. On the issue of West European involvement in the Mideast, Eagleburger maintained that for the “short-run” European participation in the Sinai peacekeeping force has brought the policy of the European Economic Community (EEC) closer to the U.S. than it was a year ago.

He said that the EEC believes that it can play a useful role in”loasening up” the negotiating situation between the Arabs and Israel. He said as long as this runs parallei to the U.S. effort and doesn’t “cut across” the U.S. policy, “we welcome” any European efforts. Eagleburger conceded that the major difference between the U.S. and Europe was that the 10 EEC countries believe the Palestine Liberation Organization should be brought into the negotiations, and the U.S. does not.