The White House today refused to confirm or deny a report that Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin was strongly urged by the White House late Thursday night to show more flexibility in dealing with the approach to the second-stage negotiating effort. A White House spokesman said today that “we don’t normally discuss diplomatic exchanges.”
At the same time, there were reliable reports here that President Ford was in touch with both Egypt and Israel during the latest negotiating efforts by Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, but the White House again declined to say how many times Ford was in touch with the two parties or whether he was in touch with both parties equally.
Meanwhile, the Administration emphasized today that the Mideast negotiations are suspended rather than broken off, even though Kissinger cited “irreconcilable differences” on key issues in his statement in Jerusalem. The President’s press secretary, Ron Nessen, said “the President feels that both sides made a serious effort at negotiation.” He added that the talks had only been suspended “for the time being” to give both sides a chance to reassess their positions and decide how to proceed toward the next step to peace.
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