Foreign Minister Yigal Allon told the Cabinet today that Israel must expect “differences of opinion with the U.S. over issues of cardinal importance,” a communique issued after the Cabinet session said. In a background briefing later, officials said Allon referred specifically to the issues of Israel’s final borders and the Palestinians.
Allon quoted American officials who denied Arab press reports that there has been a change for the worse in U.S.-Israeli relations. He said he had no reason to doubt these denials out of Washington but at the same time it would be wrong to be complacent since President Carter and other top Administration officials have publicly expressed views on the border-issues and the Palestinian question that differ substantially from Israel’s position.
The Foreign Minister also denied press reports originating in Cairo that the Soviet Union had indicated to a PLO mission in Moscow that it would resume diplomatic relations with Israel by the end of this year. “There was no hint of a Soviet intention to do so,” he said.
ISSUE OF BORDER, PALESTINIANS
Allon stated that the Carter Administration seemed inclined to view electronic devices as useful substitutes for the “defensible borders” that Israel seeks, and certainly does not seem to agree with Israel’s view that defensible borders and sovereign borders must coincide.
There might also be a gulf between Jerusalem and Washington, Allon warned, on how to solve the Palestinian question. While the U.S. would perhaps prefer the “Jordanian framework” it had not foreclosed other possible options. Defense Minister Shimon Peres, who presided at today’s session, told Moshe Kol of the Independent Liberal Party that the time was not ripe to hold a full dress debate in the Cabinet on these crucial issues since the elections were at hand and the Cabinet was only an interim administration. The transfer of governmental power from Premier Yitzhak Rabin to Peres took place last Friday. (See separate story.)
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.
