What’s next in the Middle East political process was a decidedly speculative question here this weekend following Syrian President Hafez Assad’s rejection of Egyptian and U.S. ideas for settlement talks.
The Geneva conference that Arab leaders had been insistently demanding since the Carter Administration took office in January is now a victim of differences among those very same leaders and is unlikely to take place this year, let alone in October as President Carter had predicted three weeks ago.
Carter, whose October date prediction followed his mid-July meeting here with Israeli Premier Menachem Begin, called the situation both “fluid” and “extremely difficult”. He made the comments in a brief meeting Friday with a reporter following Assad’s rejection in Damascus of Secretary of State Vance’s proposal to reconvene the Geneva conference and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s suggestion that a “working group” of foreign ministers meet in the United Stated to arrange procedures for the Geneva talks.
“There are literally hundreds of options being discussed,” Carter said at the White House. “It is such a fluid situation.” While deprecating media emphasis on the “negative aspects” of Vance’s efforts that “possibly distorts” the outlook, Carter Said ” It is an extremely difficult situation.” He added, “I think all leaders in the Middle East genuinely want peace — on their own terms, obviously.”
AIM APPEARS TO HAVE SHIFTED
The Voice of America broadcast that “it is already clear that the emphasis has shifted from
The VOA said that Vance “may return to some of the capitals he has visited, either for additional substantive discussions or for courtesy calls,” following his visits to Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Israel on “his critical mission.” It has been reported that Vance will be back in Damascus and Cairo after he is in Jerusalem to open what appears to be a Vance-type renewal of former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger’s shuttle diplomacy.
Its purpose, as the VOA indicated, is to maintain diplomatic discussion and prevent a breakdown in the diplomacy until the United Nations General Assembly in September brings foreign ministers to New York. Some expect intense pressure on Israel from the Communist-Arab bloc at that time with perhaps the climax coming when the deadline nears for the vote to continue the United Nations presence on the Golan Heights which expires in November.
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.
