Israel’s Cabinet decided today to defer, at least until tomorrow, a decision on European participation in the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) for Sinai. It approved, however, the immediate departure for Washington of Defense Minister Ariel Sharon who is scheduled to begin discussions with Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger tomorrow on a strategic cooperation agreement between the U.S. and Israel.
Although some Ministers demanded more time to study the draft of that agreement submitted by the U.S. last week, Sharon was dispatched on his mission at the urging of Premier Menachem Begin and was airborne this evening.
Today’s Cabinet meeting was held under unusual circumstances in an unusual setting — a ward at Hadassah Hospital here where Begin underwent surgery last Thursday night for a broken hip joint. His doctors said they were “very satisfied” with the progress of his recovery but limited the meeting to 90 minutes.
BACKGROUND OF SHAMIR-HAIG MEETING
The meeting began only hours after Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir returned from a 13-hour visit to Washington and a marathon 7 1/2 hours meeting with Secretary of State Alexander Haig Friday. Shamir’s purpose was to convey to the American Administration Israel’s bitter objections to participation in the Sinai peacekeeping force by Britain, France, Italy and The Netherlands on terms that the Israelis consider a negation of the Camp David accords.
The four West European powers announced last Monday that they would join the MFO on the basis of the European Economic Community’s (EEC) Venice declaration of 1980 which calls for the association of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the Middle East peace process. Israel was also disturbed by the distinction drawn by the European states between Israel’s withdrawal from Sinai, which they approve, and the rest of the Camp David process, of which they are critical.
The U.S., which will contribute more than half of the 2,500-member MFO, is anxious for European participation. It is widely believed that Haig summoned Shamir to Washington when it appeared that the Cabinet would reject the Europeans unless they changed their terms. This was emphatically denied by Israeli officials.
Informed sources said that when the Cabinet reconvenes tomorrow it is likely to agree, at least in part, to a draft joint U.S.-Israeli statement worked out by Haig and Shamir. The statement is expected to declare that the nations joining the MFO do so on the basis of the Camp David accor#s and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.
It is far from certain that the four European powers would actively endorse such a statement, but by keeping silent they could approve it by default. Haig is known to have been in contact with America’s European allies on this issue before Shamir arrived in Washington.
BELIEVES CRISIS WAS AVERTED
Shamir said in a radio interview this afternoon that he believed his whirlwind trip to Washington had averted a looming crisis in U.S.-Israeli relations.
Haig and Shamir began their talks at 10 a.m. Washington time, little more than two hours after the Israeli Foreign Minister landed. When they concluded the talks at 5:30 p.m., both men said they were optimistic.
Shamir stressed that there was no linkage between Israel’s request for a broader strategic cooperation agreement and the issue of European participation in the MFO. Haig, for his part, stressed that inclusion of the European powers would enhance the international legitimacy of the Sinai peacekeeping force and the legitimacy of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty and the Camp David accords.
Shamir emphasized that there was no problem between Israel and the U.S. over the MFO. The problem, he said, was with the Europeans. Both stressed that their meeting had been fruitful and was conducted in the most friendly atmosphere.
In a speech yesterday at Valley Forge, Pa., Haig said that while there were unresolved questions about the composition of the MFO, there was no doubt that the force would be in place on schedule and that Israel would complete its withdrawal from Sinai next April “in accordance with the Camp David accords.” He spoke at the headquarters of the Freedom Foundation, a private group that promotes study of the U.S. Constitution.
In addition to the MFO issue, Haig’s talks with Shamir covered the situation in Lebanon, the ongoing autonomy talks and the strategic cooperation agreement.
CABINET MEETING REPORTEDLY STORMY
Shamir briefed Begin this morning before the Cabinet gathered around his bedside. Cabinet Secretary Arye Naor said the Cabinet was not able to complete its deliberations on the MFO today because of the doctors’ 90-minute limit on the meeting. The meeting, chaired by Deputy Premier Simcha Ehr-lich, was reported to have been stormy. The differences arose over whether Sharon should delay his trip to Washington.
Several Ministers protested vigorously over what they thought was the undue haste with which they were required to examine and decide on the American proposals for strategic cooperation. Education Minister Zevulun Hammer demanded that Sharon delay his departure for a day. But Begin was determined to have the strategic cooperation agreement concluded as speedily as possible.
Naor told reporters afterwards that Sharon would not sign the accord “immediately.” The Cabinet instructed him to insist on certain vital additions to the text but the consensus here is that the agreement will be signed sometime this week.
Begin is said to consider it a major political achievement for Israel even though it does not contain
all that Israel had hoped for. He regards it, moreover, as a personal triumph achieved during his meeting with President Reagan in Washington last September, and is said to feel that whatever is lacking now could be built into strategic cooperation once the agreement is in force.
SEVERAL ELEMENTS EMERGE
One element Israel reluctantly agreed to forego is joint U.S.-Israeli military exercises on Israeli soil, similar to the joint exercises already twice conducted by the U.S. and Egypt on Egyptian soil. But the U.S. ruled that out for political reasons. It agreed, however, to joint sea and air exercises with Israel.
A new element welcomed here was the agreement with the Pentagon over the weekend that the pact would contain a secret addendum specifying cooperation in intelligence and other sensitive areas. Israel also secured American consent to have the agreement ratified officially by the two governments after it is signed, thus giving it more formal binding force.
Another improvement from Israel’s viewpoint will have the accord spell out an element of “reciprocity,” meaning that each side would help the other, not merely that Israel would cooperate with the U.S. against possible Soviet aggression in the Middle East. Some Ministers were uncomfortable with the emphasis the American draft placed on the anti-Soviet aims of the agreement and Sharon was instructed to try to broaden its scope.
Cabinet sources said today that Israel already has obtained U.S. consent to add a reference to Soviet satellites in the region so that the accord is perceived to be directed against aggression by Soviet surrogates and not merely at the less likely threat of Red Army action.
PROTESTS OVER SABBATH TRIP
Shamir’s seven hour-plus meeting with Haig is believed to have set a record for a single day’s diplomatic conference. But the fact that Sharmir was forced to fly home to Israel on Saturday drew fierce protests from the religious parties in Begin’s coalition government.
Interior Minister Yosef Burg of the National Religious Party said the Sabbath trip was “a blatant deviation from the declared policy and attitude of the Begin government.” Menachem Porush, a Knesset member of the Agudat Israel, said his party would demand a commitment that no similar Sabbath violation would occur in the future.
Shamir said he was “sorry” his mission had forced him to fly on the Sabbath. But he said it had been most urgent for him to return home immediately to convey the U.S. position to Begin.
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.
