Vance to Seek out Thinking of Mideast Leaders on Settlement

Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance leaves for Israel tomorrow on the first stop of his six-country Middle East tour to ascertain for himself the thinking among the region’s leaders on possibilities of an approach to a settlement of the Arab-Israeli dispute.

Publicly and privately, Vance has said his week-long journey is exploratory. Nevertheless, his visits to Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and Syria are considered at the Capitol and within the Administration to be of the highest importance for their impact on future U.S. policy towards Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization. In addition, the U.S. policy of arms sales will be affected by the trip, some sources stressed.

Before his departure, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency was informed, the Secretary will consult with UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim or his aides on the results of Waldheim’s travels during the past week over much of the same ground. The West German and French Foreign Ministers also are active in the area.

NO SPECIFIC PLAN SUGGESTED

In an interview with the New York Times published Friday and reportedly afterwards behind closed doors in a two-hour session with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Vance indicated he has reached no conclusions on how the Administration will proceed. However, he appeared to rule out any idea the U.S. would offer a specific proposal for a settlement. “I think that we should not come up with, or try to come up with, a specific plan,” Vance said in the interview. “Our role should be one of facilitating the process of the parties arriving at a settlement.”

His opposition to a specific plan appeared to be a response to the suggestion last Thursday in a report by Sens. Abraham Ribicoff (D.Conn.) and Howard Baker (R. Tenn.) that for the U.S. “not to put forward a plan” early in 1977 would be to “ignore a chance for peace.” Vance, in his interview, said “I think it is terribly important that progress be made, and that it be made in 1977.”

He added, however, that the difficulty in resolving the substantive issues which divide the parties should not be underestimated. There are, he affirmed, “three key elements of any settlement. One is peace, the other is withdrawal and the third is finding a way to meet the legitimate interests of the Palestinian people.”

TO STUDY PLO’S VIEWS

In its exclusive interview, the Times emphasized that Vance plans to explore “in depth” the possibility that “the Palestinian leadership has moderated its position toward Israel.” And that he said: “If there has been a moderation in the Palestinian position, then obviously this would be a helpful step.”

The Times interpreted his statement as seemingly “signaling the Palestinian leadership that the U.S. was aware of reports of a shift in the position of the PLO, the overall grouping of Palestinian units, and would welcome moves towards acceptance of Israel as a step toward a Middle East settlement.”

State Department sources privately told JTA that while Vance was seeking the options open to a new Administration, he would want to assure himself whether the PLO’s views are accepted by other Arab leaders and whether they meet both their needs and Israel’s. Some other U.S. sources said they felt that a PLO shift partially towards acceptance at its plenary session that now seems to be scheduled for March after being listed for late February, may cause some rethinking in Washington with subsequent heavy pressure on Israel.

Despite widespread press reports that Arab leaders, including the PLO, have “moderated” their positions toward Israel, PLO officials, including Yasir Arafat, have publicly reiterated their intention to eliminate Israel.

The “Voice of Palestine” reported that on Feb. 1 Arafat told E1 Fatah officers at a graduation ceremony, “We must be prepared for our task, which is the struggle against the Zionist foe and against all the enemies of our Arab nation–without and within.” The “only way to liberate the land,” he said, is to march on, hand in hand to victory, from “the ocean to the gulf.”