Big Four Meet Minus Memo; Report Malik Urges Any Memo to Indicate Progress

The Big Four ambassadors met again today on the Middle East situation with their deputies’ memorandum on the progress of the talks still uncompleted. Sources indicated that today’s meeting could not be substantive without the memo and suggested it was held primarily to avoid adverse publicity over a cancellation. But a U.S. Mission spokesman reiterated that the ambassadors had not made the memo a prerequisite for continued meetings. It was expected that the ambassadors would schedule their next meeting for several weeks hence to give the deputies more time for their memo. There were unconfirmed reports that the Soviet Ambassador Yakob Malik, had recommended the issuance by the deputies of any kind of memo, even an inconclusive one, as an indication of progress. But the other ambassadors were said to have rejected the idea. There were indications late last week that even an “interim” report approved by all four ambassadors could be sufficient to spark the resumption of the Mideast peace mission of UN special envoy Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring.