Authoritative sources here denied today reports of a new American peace plan for the Middle East said to have been transmitted recently to Cairo. The sources said the reports of a new plan were circulated deliberately and are without foundation.
Agence France Presse, the French news agency, reported yesterday that the US had submitted a plan to Egypt through Mohammed Hassanein Heykal, editor of the Cairo daily, Al Ahram. The plan was reportedly similar to that proposed in 1969 by US Secretary of State William P. Rogers.
According to the news agency, the plan provides for Israeli evacuation of Sinai in stages but does not mention the return of East Jerusalem to Jordan which was suggested in the original Rogers plan. The news agency said the new plan has the approval of the Kremlin and several European states and that Cairo is reportedly considering it.
Sources here noted that no hint of any such US move emerged from the recent meeting between Foreign Minister Abba Eban and Rogers. They said that Rogers concentrated on the chances for an interim Suez Canal settlement and direct talks between the parties at his meeting with Eban as well as in his address to the UN General Assembly last week.
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