Agreeing to Try Again

The U.S. arranges a get-together for Israel and Egypt

Israel and Egypt are willing to talk again. The two foes, who have not engaged in direct negotiations since talks broke off in January, agreed last week to meet each other in London later this month at a foreign ministers conference arranged by the U.S. with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance presiding. Neither side, though, was very hopeful about the outcome. Quipped Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan: "It will probably be a waste of time, but I like London. I might even see some shows I missed."

The joint commitment was the major achievement of Vice President Walter Mondale's four-day tour of the Middle East. As Mondale left Alexandria for Washington last week, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat handed him a new six-point peace plan to pass on to Israel. The plan is Egypt's response to a 26-point proposal presented by Israeli Premier Menachem Begin at the Ismailia conference last December. Washington sources optimistically contended that the two plans, although predictably far apart on every major issue, would serve as "a fair basis for negotiations."

The sticking point, in both cases, involves the future of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, occupied by Israel since the 1967 war. Israel's plan would grant a limited degree of self-rule to the territories. Despite U.S. pressure, Jerusalem has refused to commit itself to giving eventual self-determination to the 1.1 million Palestinians living in the regions.

The Sadat proposal gave no ground either. It called for the withdrawal of Israeli forces and settlements from both territories, under the supervision of the United Nations. In a five-year transition period, during which a final agreement would be negotiated, the West Bank would be under Jordanian authority and Gaza returned to Egyptian protection. The plan also demanded the return of East Jerusalem to Arab authority; the Arab section of the Holy City has been formally merged with Israeli West Jerusalem since 1967.

On the volatile issue of Palestinian representation, Sadat's proposal was deliberately vague. "Representatives of the Palestinian people," it noted, would have a voice in deciding a final settlement. But it made no mention of the Palestine Liberation Organization, with whom Israel has refused to negotiate. That alone, in the view of some Western diplomats, was a hopeful signal that the Egyptians were trying to avoid any wording that might unnecessarily antagonize the Israelis.

Israeli officials were not impressed.

They dismissed Sadat's proposals as a hardening of the Egyptian position. Said one Israeli official: "Egypt has gone back to square minus-one." Nonetheless, Israeli officials were convinced that they should go to London, if only to help dispel Jerusalem's image as the "bad guy" who was the stumbling block to a peace settlement. But after Premier Begin made another hard-line speech, a Western diplomat in Israel sadly remarked that "the diplomatic Novocain has already worn off"--a reference to the fleeting benefits of Mondale's visit to Jerusalem.

Although Begin and Dayan gave the U.S. Vice President a cordial welcome, TIME has learned that other high-ranking officials actually orchestrated several noisy "Mondale go home" demonstrations by members of the religious nationalist Gush Emunim group, which has sponsored a number of West Bank settlements. On one occasion, a police truck was used to transport demonstrators to different spots along the Vice President's route, where the noise from shouting and horn honking frequently drowned out Mondale's conversations with his hosts. Said one high-ranking source about the demonstrators: "The orders to let them through and to behave nicely toward them came directly from the Premier's office."

In talks with Mondale, both Begin and Dayan expressed deep pessimism about the London meeting. Sadat was equally gloomy, but he nonetheless agreed to send Foreign Minister Mohammed Ibrahim Kamal in the hope that somehow his Jerusalem initiative might be revived. If the Israelis show interest in accepting the basic principle of Sadat's plan--custody of the West Bank to Jordan, Gaza to Egypt--then it will be viewed in Cairo as a sign of progress. In light of what the Egyptians feel is a hard line by Begin, Sadat has revised his timetable for peace. Says one of Sadat's top advisers: "We're now thinking in terms of a much longer time span. This will not be the year for peace. So we've got to explore a new route."

Toward that end, the Egyptian President is sending out peace feelers to Begin's potential successors in office. Over the weekend, Sadat met in Vienna with Labor Party Leader Shimon Peres, who last week told Austrian journalists that his party is "ready to retreat from some territories" if it is returned to power.

The U.S. aim in London, meanwhile, will be to play a discreet yet forceful role in bridging gaps where a consensus seems possible. There is no intention, for the moment, of submitting a U.S. "plan," although some State Department officials privately concede that floating a last-ditch American sketch might prove more palatable than reverting to yet another call for a Geneva parley. Washington also wants to persuade both sides to cool their public rhetoric and explore the possibilities of working through more private channels. "Israel and Egypt have, in a sense, always negotiated in public, and when seen in that light, the differences in their positions are understandable," said one U.S. Middle East expert. "To find some convergence, we have to get them talking in less public form."

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