The Carter Administration appears to be accepting the Arab contention that Israel must withdraw from all areas occupied in the Six-Day War and is reaffirming publicly that Israel is responsible for making the first move towards the renewal of peace negotiations.
The apparent hardening of the Administration’s position toward Israel in the wake of differences between President Carter and Premier Menachem Begin of Israel last week is evident at the State Department where there seems to be an unwillingness to enumerate differences the U.S. might have with Arab governments over the interpretation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, in sharp contrast to the readiness it has shown to enumerate differences with Israel.
The State Department attitude was indicated yesterday when spokesman John Trattner said “We expect Israel to consider over the next few weeks the exploratory ideas we–President Carter–had put forward to him” (Begin). He added that the Administration is now “in a period of quiet diplomacy” with “ideas being explored with all the parties.”
The issue of Resolution 242 arose after a reporter asked Trattner why he does not compare the U.S. position on the resolution with the Arab viewpoint as Washington has done with the Israeli position.
“We don’t have a quarrel with the Arab interpretation of 242,” Trattner said. “The focus for the moment is on the Israeli point of view compared with ours.” Asked it he accepted Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s position as “final and right,” the spokesman said “we have never said it was final and right” and “the final word has not been heard from anyone.”
The Carter Administration has not been referring in recent months to the concept articulated in 1969 by then Secretary of State William Rogers, or by Carter himself, that Israel’s frontiers should be fixed at the 1967 lines except for “insubstantial changes” or “minor adjustments.”
In a related development, Trattner said the U.S. has taken up with Israel Saudi Arabia’s complaint that Israeli planes have been reported in “practice raids” and “mock runs” against the Saudi airbase at Tabuk which is within 10 minutes flying time of Eilat. Trattner, who noted that the complaints first began in 1976, would not say that the alleged Israeli flights were violating Saudi airspace or whether the U.S. has “independent” knowledge of the alleged flights. It is believed that the airbase will serve as the station for the F-15 warplanes the U.S. has proposed to sell to Saudi Arabia.
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