Christmas of hope in M.E.

Press, 21 December 1977, Page 8

Christmas of hope in M.E.

NZPA-Reuter Cairo Preparations for a Christmas summit conference between the Egyptian President (Mr Anwar Sadat) and the Israeli Prime Minister (Mr Menachem Begin) yesterday overshadowed talks their experts are having in Cairo on reconvening the Geneva Middle East peace conference.

News that the two leaders would meet next Sunday at Ismaiiia on the Suez Canal came as Egyptian and Israeli legal experts met again after a three-day recess to try to hammer out an agenda for Geneva. Conference sources said Egypt’s proposed agenda included the withdrawal of Israeli troops from all occupied Arab territory, the Palestinian issue, and the nature of a Middle East peace.

But they said the Israelis wanted the nature of the peace put first on the agenda, with the other issues to follow.

The chief Egyptian delegate, Dr Esmat Abdel Maguid, said in a television interview that the experts were trying to find “an acceptable definition for (United Nations) Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 — mainly the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the Palestinian issue.”

He said the experts were trying to iron out the differences between the Egyptian and Israeli approaches, and would report back to the preparatory conference today.

Dr Maguid said “some progress” had been made on several issues, “but more ef-

fort and patience are needed to reach an acceptable formula.”

He said the new EgyptianIsraeli summit meeting which stems from President Sadat’s historic visit to Jerusalem last month, would “definitely help the negotiations we are undertaking here.” The summit meeting which also coincides with Mr Sadat’s 59th birthday, is expected to cover the new Israeli peace proposals, which Mr Begin discussed with President Carter in Washington last week-end. The proposals include Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Desert, which it occupied during the 1967 Middle East war; self-rule for Palestinian Arabs on the West Bank of the River Jordan and the Gaza Strip; and "mutual right of settlement” for Jews on the West Bank and for Palestinians in Israel.

The proposals have already been condemned by Arab States opposed to President Sadat’s peace initiative and by the Palestine Liberation Organisation.

The Palestine news agency, W.A.F.A., said in an editorial: “Begin’s ridiculous joke. . . will obliterate the Palestinian people under the yoke of further occupation.” Mr Begin has begun a flying visit to England to bring the British Prime Minister (Mr James Callaghan) and a special French Presidential envoy up to date on latest developments.

Mr Begin will give separate briefings to Mr Callaghan and Mr Jean F r a n c o i s-Poncet, French Presidency Secretary-Gen-eral.