U.S. Puts Lid on All but Minimal Discussion of the Mideast

The Carter Administration appeared today to have put a lid on all but minimal U.S. discussion of the Middle East in view of developments over the weekend. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat flatly rejected President Carter’s espousal of minor adjustments in Israel’s 1967 borders, Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin said on ABC-TV “Issues and Answers” that Israel will not return to the lines that existed before the Six-Day War, and the Palestine Liberation Organization reaffirmed that it refuses to alter its destroy-Israel covenant.

Administration sources indicated today that no official reaction will emerge on the Mideast and none is likely, with one exception, until at least Carter meets with Sadat at the White House April 4-5. A State Department spokesman synthesized the Administration’s public reaction to the weekend developments by commenting that the U.S. position is “unchanged.”

LOW KEY ON SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES

It was indicated that the Carter-Sadat meeting will be played in low key if the Administration can help it, although Sadat himself will be highly honored. The low key on substantive remarks will continue, it was indicated, until after Carter also meets with the leaders of Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Saudi Arabia before the end of May.

The one exception is Egypt’s call for a Security Council session to discuss UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim’s visit to the Mideast last month. However, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance has told Congress that both he and Waldheim oppose negotiating a Mideast settlement in the Security Council. It is therefore presumed by U.S. sources that the U.S. would go along with Sadat’s request if necessary to help his political position but it would give little assistance towards a serious discussion of settlement initiatives. (See P. 3 for related story from UN.)

Sadat’s purpose for a Security Council meeting is seen as merely another opportunity to project the Arab position with the hope of further influencing Americans, particularly in the direction of accepting a PLO role in a Geneva conference.

Rabin, in his television interview which was taped in New York last Friday, was asked whether Israel would “under any circumstances, at any time” return to its pre-1967 borders. The Premier replied: “By no means, no. The answer is, without qualification. Israel will not return to the lines that existed before the 1967 war.” He pointed out that “the basic issue at the present” is not details of boundaries but whether the Arab nations are “ready to make peace with us.” The issue of peace, he stressed, is the first issue.