U.S. Says Parties Other Than Egypt, Israel and the U.S. Will Determine West Bank. Gaza Future

The State Department hinted today that “autonomy” for the West Bank and the Gaza Strip is not the Final action regarding those territories and that “parties” other than Egypt, Israel and the United States will participate in determining their future. State Department spokesman Hodding Garter was asked who else besides Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat had “enough guns” to take control of the West Bank.

After saying that the “premise” in the question is wrong, Carter added that “we envision a negotiated process involving a number of parties to create — to try to establish autonomy and beyond that determination of that region’s fate.” He said, “It is not one we see determined by men with guns.”

Carter said he has “no reason whatever to think that the U.S. has altered its position that “we would be willing to talk to the PLO” if it accepted UN Security Council Resolution 242 and “conceded Israel’s right to exist.”

He refused to comment on whether the memorandum of assurances that Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and Secretary of State Cyrus Vance are to prepare later this week supersedes the 1975 understanding connected to the Sinai It accord in that understanding the U.S. pledged its apportion to the PLO except on the lines Carter says continue to be in effect.

Regarding the reports of possible errors in the English language text of the Egyptian-Israeli treaty made public in Israel, Carter said he understood that “whatever problems have arisen” are being handled in Israel and that “will be clear soon enough.” An Israel Embassy source said that the military annex to the treaty, which is hinging on one provision, probably will be settled when Dayan arrives tomorrow.