Jarring mission suspended

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32459, 20 November 1970, Page 13

Jarring mission suspended

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) NEW YORK, Nov. 19. The Secretary-General of the United Nations (U Thant) has announced that his special envoy, Dr Gunnar Jarring, has given up his efforts for the time being to revive the ArabIsraeli peace talks, and is returning to his Swedish diplomatic post in Moscow.

At the same time, a United Nations spokesman disclosed that Dr Jarring had appealed to Israel to return to the

peace talks, from which she withdrew after accusing Egypt of violating the ceasefire agreement. Dr Jarring has been in New York since mid-October hoping to bring about resumption of the talks. Egypt and Jordan have expressed their willingness to continue them, but Israel has been insisting on "rectification” of the alleged violations as a precondition for any resumption. Both sides have agreed to an extension of the 90-day cease-fire that expired on November 5. A.A.P.-Reuter reports from Jerusalem that the Israeli Minister of Defence (General Moshe Dayan) has suggested a new initiative to break the deadlock, perhaps even including the reopening of the Suez Canal as a concession to the Russians. The general is reported to feel that Israel must act now to reactivate Dr Jarring’s peace mission, to prevent a fresh outbreak of hostilities along the canal, block the way to military extremists within Egypt who want a new war, and curtail further Soviet Union involvement in the region. General Dayan is said to have told a closed meeting of the Labour Party last night that he favoured a resumption of the talks if a new cease-fire agreement based on “new physical arrangements” was reached before the extended truce expired in February. Usually well - informed sources quote him as saying that the arrangements should contain "elements of durability,” though he refused when questioned by his fellow Parliamentarians, to elaborate. Political observers, however, speculated today that

he was floating the idea of a disengagement of forces along the Suez Canal, despite the formal Defence Ministry denials last week of a similar plan, attributed to him by foreign newspapers. General Dayan’s reported remarks of last night came after earlier speeches by both the Prime Minister (Mrs Golda Meir) and himself, in which they omitted Israel’s oft-repeated insistence on an Egyptian missile withdrawal from the standstill zone as an explicit precondition for a resumption of the Jarring talks. Infantry only The political correspondent of the evening newspaper, “Maariv,” said today that the Dayan plan would mean armour and artillery, including missiles, being withdrawn from both banks of the canal, leaving only infantry units positioned there. Such a plan would be attractive to the Soviet Union because it would open up for them the main seaway to the Indian Ocean, the correspondent said. It would also interest the Egyptians, because it would allow them to rebuild their towns along the banks of the canal. Other observers in Jerusalem see the general’s plan as a means of giving an indefinite nature to the ceasefire, to prevent a fresh outbreak of hostilities while allowing contacts, either under Dr Jarring or in some other fopn, to be resumed in an atmosphere of greater confidence.

The sources say that General Dayan feels that the time is now ripe for Israel to take the political initiative because the Arab States have seemed more inclined since the death of President Nasser, towards a political solution than towards a resumption of hostilities. He feels also that the new Egyptian regime is still too weak to begin a new war. Ebaii: ‘not ready’ In Washington, however, the Israeli Foreign Minister (Mr Abba Eban) said last night that while increased arms shipments from the United States had boosted Israel’s military position, his Government was not yet ready to resume peace talks. Mr Eban had just had a 45-minute meeting with the United States Secretary of State (Mr William Rogers). Mr Eban confirmed that Israel was no longer seeking a total withdrawal of the missiles alleged to have been placed on the Egyptian side of the canal after the.first United States - sponsored cease-fire went into effect on August 7. Israel still felt that they should be withdrawn, he said, but she had to face the fact that she had not been successful in achieving this object for three months. The Foreign Minister appeared to brush aside the

speculation about Israel proposing a new cease-fire plan to break the impasse. And, asked about General Dayan’s call for . “new physical arrangements,” he replied: “No such plan has been adopted by Israel.”