Israeli authorities lodged two more complaints with the United Nations Truce Observation Organization (UNTSO) today against alleged Egyptian violations of the Aug. 7 cease-fire. One complaint, accompanied by aerial photographs made last Friday, charged that Egypt had constructed new missile sites 18 kilometers west of the Great Bitter Lake, well within 30 miles of the Suez Canal. The complaint said that in addition the Egyptians were carrying out preparatory work for new missile sites in the canal zone in violation of the cease-fire. The newspaper Yediot Achronot reported today that Premier Golda Meir sent a new note to President Richard M. Nixon stressing Israel’s grave view of the cease-fire violations by Egypt. The note reportedly referred to the traditional friendship between Israel and the U.S. and Israel’s positive response to the American peace initiative. Mrs. Meir has indicated that she might advance her forthcoming visit to the U.S., tentatively scheduled for the end of October, in order to confer with President Nixon. Her visit, officially, is to attend the 25th anniversary session of the UN General Assembly.
CABINET MEETS TOMORROW IN EFFORT TO REACH ACCORD ON ISRAEL’S POSITION AT PEACE TALKS
The Cabinet will meet tomorrow to continue its efforts to reach agreement on Israel’s position at the peace talks currently underway in New York under UN envoy Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring. A position acceptable to all members of the government has so far eluded Mrs. Meir owing partly to Egyptian cease-fire violations which have gone unrectified. The Cabinet is reportedly badly split with a minority, led by Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, favoring Israel’s cancellation of the cease-fire. The possibility also has been raised of withdrawal from the Jarring peace talks. Israel’s chief UN representative. Ambassador Yosef Tekoah. Foreign Minister Eban’s alternate at the Jarring talks, has delayed his return to New York by decision of the Cabinet yesterday. The delay has been attributed to the failure of the Cabinet to give Mr. Tekoah guidelines. Presumably he will get them at tomorrow’s session. Informed quarters here said the extension of his stay in Jerusalem, reportedly at the insistence of Gen. Dayan, was in part a demonstration to the Arabs that Israel is not over-anxious. Government circles believe no meaningful progress can be made at the Jarring talks until Israel knows the Egyptian and Jordanian attitudes toward the nature of a peace settlement. It will be one of Ambassador Tekoah’s tasks to ascertain this when he returns to New York.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
