Progress made at Geneva talks

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33424, 4 January 1974, Page 9

Progress made at Geneva talks

f.V.Z.P.A.-Reuter— Copyright' GENEVA. January 3. Significant progress seems to have been made towards a Middle East peace agreement with the announcement that the Egyptian-Israeli military talks in Geneva have reached an important stage.

I lopes that the disengagement of the armies on the Suez front can be settled quickly were also raised with disclosures that Israeli and Egyptian leaders will soon visit Washington and Moscow respectively.

Further progress in the military negotiations was reported in a 30word communique after a meeting last evening, lasting almost three hours, between military representatives of both sides.

A United Nations spokesman, who read the brief statement from the steps leading from the first-floor conference chamber, said '.hat the delegates had "reached an important stage,” but would not elaborate. However, the belief that discussions on a Suez settlement are at an advanced stage was heightened by the news that the Egyptian Foreign Minister (Mr Ismail

Fahmy) and the Israeli Minister of Defence (Mr Moshe Dayan) will fly to Moscow fand Washington respectively within the next few days for urgent consultations. Mr Fahmy’s Soviet visit is part of wide-range Egyptian contacts, including the United States, Europe, and Arab States to speed up moves to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Mr Dayan will meet the United States Secretary of State (Dr Henry Kissinger) in Washington tomorrow for wide-ranging discussions. The Soviet Union and the United States are co-sponsors of the Middle East peace conference, which set up the joint military working group 12 days ago as the first step towards a durable Middle East accord.

The meetings will take iplace against a background (of increasingly serious incidents on the Egyptian and Syrian fronts, and moves by the Israeli Prime Minister (Mrs Golda Meir) to form a inew coalition Government. Israeli troops suffered i their heaviest casualties since (the cease-fire yesterday in (dashes along the Suez Canal and in the Golan Heights. Eight Israeli soldiers were wounded on the Egyptian front yesterday, and there is concern in Geneva that the situation could deteriorate even further. The Israeli delegation to the military talks was yesterday reported to have asked the Egyptians to stop the firing. Separation of the Suez (forces is regarded as essential for further talks on an lover-all Middle East settle(ment. Both Egyptian and Israeli sources in Geneva said that they would not be surprised if even more dramatic developments came at the weekend.

If a solution is found to the troop-withdrawal question, an accord could be (signed al the full peace conference. a meeting of which is tentatively set for January 21. This would open the way for negotiations on other stumbling blocks, such as those of Israeli-occupied Jerusalem, the west bank of the River Jordan, and the Golan Heights front, where Israel and Syria clashed in October.