The United States warmed today toward the apparently impending Egyptian-Israeli summit meeting in Jerusalem with President Carter personally involving himself by making a cordial assessment of its significance. At the same time, both Carter and the State Department plainly implied that the U.S. government is not to be connected with the summit’s origin or the initiatives connected with it beyond the role of a silent “conduit-courier.”
President Carter said his “belief” is that Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s trip to Jerusalem “will be a constructive step that will let the hopes for Middle East peace come closer to realization.” He said, “No one knows what will happen. This is an unprecedented thing, a very courageous thing which President Sadat has proposed. Israel and Egypt are technically at war and so far as I know, no Arab leader has ever before even recognized the legitimacy of the Israel government. It is an unpredictable thing, but a step in the right direction.”
Carter gave his views to reporters after escorting the Shah of Iran to his limousine following their final talk at the White House. The President said he was “pleased to see” the Jerusalem summit develop. He pointed out that Sadat originated the idea for it and while he could not predict its outcome, he believed that the Geneva conference for an overall settlement was” certainly, yes, possible this year.”
STATE DEPARTMENT CONTINUES CAUTION
Afterwards, the State Department pointedly denoted the U.S. caution toward being implicated in the summit meeting apart from its service in transmitting Begin’s invitation to Sadat. State Department spokesman Hodding Carter reflected this caution by refusing to say whether or not the U.S. Ambassador in Cairo, Hermann Eilts, has given Sadat Israeli Premier Menachem Begin’s invitation. He said information as to whether Eilts delivered the invitation “has to come from Sadat.”
Asked if the U.S. would welcome similar invitations by Begin to the heads of other Arab governments, Carter replied, “Yes,” adding, “We welcome anything that brings the parties into direct contact on negotiations.” He said that if Begin “wishes to extend such invitations and other parties wish to accept them, we view any such steps as constructive ones.” However, he pointed out, “Any information on formal invitations would have to come from those extending them.” Begin said yesterday he was ready to extend invitations to President Hafez Assad of Syria, King Hussein of Jordan and President Elias Sarkis of Lebanon.
Asked if there was concern in the State Department that Israel and Egypt might reach an agreement between themselves and that the Palestinian issue would be overlooked, Carter reiterated that the U.S. welcomes the meeting as a “constructive step” toward an overall peace settlement. Asked if the dynamics of Middle East diplomacy has undergone a great change, he replied, “Clearly this is a dynamic change in the situation and one that we welcome.”
Carter confirmed that Secretary of State Cyrus Vance will meet with a group of Arab-Americans at the State Department Friday. But he could not say whether one of the group would be the American professor of Palestinian extraction proposed by Sadat to represent the Palestinians at the Geneva conference. He said the Friday meeting is “a separate thing” and Sadat’s “proposal” is “absolutely unconnected with this meeting.” According to the official Egyptian Middle East News Agency, the person Sadat proposed to represent the Palestinians is Edward Said, a 42-year-old professor of political science at Columbia University. Said stated in New York that he has not been contacted officially by Sadat.
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