Progress in Talks With. Syria Expected This Month

By DAVID LANDAU
Well-placed sources here
JTA Jerusalem Bureau Chief say Israel's offer to cede the
JERUSALEM—Well-placed two Syrian positions on Mt.
sources in Jerusalem expect Hermon and to allow back
progress during February into the war zone some 15,000
toward breaking the present civilian villagers who fled,
impasse between Israel and still stands and is at the cen-
Syria. These sources antici- ter of Kissinger's efforts. In
pate that Syria will comply, return for this offer, Israel
one one way or another, with demands an actual exchange
Israel's precondition regard- of prisoners. But, say the
ing the POWs, and in this sources, there can be no dis-
way open the way to disen- cussion of the offer until the
Israeli sine qua non of POW
gagement talks.
The sources base them- lists and visits is fulfilled.
If progress is made on this
selves on the assessment of
Henry Kissinger, who after problem, talks could take
his Damascus visit reported place then on actual disen-
that Syria was interested in gagement should involve Is-
disengagement. The U.S. sec- raeli withdrawal to the pre-
retary also apparently be- Yom Kippur line with the
lieves that during next month interposition of a UNEF
President Assad will over- force in the vacated area
come opposition and suspi- and Syrian reduction of
cion within and without and forces (and perhaps parellel
will indeed move toward Israeli reduction, too). Offi-
disengagement talks.
cials said here over the week-
At present, Syrian demands end that Israel had not con-
on disengagement envisage cretized its position on dis-
an Israeli withdrawal to the engagement since, at the
pre-1967 lines — something moment, the POW problem
Israel would never contem- was paramount and pre-
plate. But the Israeli sources vented any progress. The
—and apparently Kissinger, officials could not say what
too — feel that by next Syria's viOvs on the pro-
month Assad will be pre- posed disengagement would
pared to talk about the kind entail, either.
of disengagement that Israel
Well placed sources point
has in mind.
out that there is far less
This would be implemented pressure, on Israel now with
solely within the newly oc- regard to Syrian disengage-
cupied area and would in- ment than there was before
volve a pullback and inter- and during the Israel-Egypt
position of UNEF, with force disengagement talks. But the
reductions on both sides.
Israel government is labor-
Once Syria is ready to con- ing under intense internal
template that sort of disen- and psychological pressure
gagement. the POWs ob- because of the POW issue—
stacle will be solved, the and Syria, knowing this, and
sources believe.
knowing that it has no real
The cabinet issued a state- military cards to play, is
ment Sunday "reiterating Is- determined to exploit Israel's
rael's readiness to negotiate concern and sensitivity on
with Syria on troop disen- this issue to a maximum.
gagement immediately after
The Damascus regime is
the lists of POWs are handed
over to Israel and the Red beset by pressures from
Cross is permitted to visit within and from without, and
the extent to which President
them."
This statement was issued Assad can maneuver under
after a seven-hour cabinet these pressures will vitally
meeting which discussed pro- influence the chances of pro-
posals brought last week gress.
from Damascus to Tel Aviv
Inside the Syrian Baath, in
by Kissinger which he termed the Iraqi Baath, and among
as "constructive ideas."
such extremist Arab regimes
The cabinet heard reports as the Libyan, there is still
from Deputy Premier Yigal great suspicion of the Israel-
Allon and Foreign Minister Egypt disengagement accord
Abba Eban in which they and much wariness over pos-
described their talks with sible Israel-Syria accommo-
Kissinger. Observers saw the dations. Assad would have to
positive tone of the cabinet be extremely diplomatic and
statement as strengthening tactful in weathering a course
earlier assessments that Is- between these potential ob-
rael would not reject out of stacles, the Israeli sources
hand the ideas Kissinger point out.
brought with him.
These ideas are understood
to center on some kind of
middle - m a n arrangement
whereby the International
Red Cross or some other or-
ganization would receive the
POW lists in advance of any
PARIS (JTA) — French
negotiations.
Even as the cabinet was Foreign Minister Michel
making its decision, a five- Jobert has asked the Syrian
hour artillery exchange took government to release at the
place in the Golan Heights. earliest the Israeli POWs it
The Syrians opened fire in still holds.
the Kafr Nassej, Kafr Maas,
Jobert, who Tuesday night
Rafid Junction and Mazraat concluded a two-day official
Ben Jan areas in the central visit to Syria, told a press
and southern Golan. Israel conference at Damascus Air-
returned the artillery and port that he had asked the
tank fire. There were no Syrian minister for foreign
casualties.
affairs to reconsider his
But Saturday in a three- country's stand on this issue.
hour exchange of fire in the
same area, one Israeli soldier
"It is regrettable that
was killed and two wounded. human beings, the prisoners,
These have been the most should become the stake of
serious engagements along the game now being played,"
the Syrian line since Egypt said the French minister.
and Israel signed the disen- The envoy said that he drew
gagement agreement on Jan. Syria's attention to "the
18.
humanitarian aspect" of the

Speaking to newsmen be-
fore conferring for about an
hour with United Nations
Secretary General Kurt Wald-
heim in New York, Kissinger
said that he was only "mod-
erately optimistic" about the
chances of getting disengage-
ment talks underway be-
tween Israel and Syria.
Kissinger was reluctant to
discuss a report that Israeli
and Jordanian officials have
already begun to discuss dis-
engagement along the Jordan
River.
(In Jerusalem, the prime
minister's office issued a
statement denying a report
which appeared in the New
York Times that Israelis and
Jordanians had begun such
talks and that under con-
sideration was an Israeli pull-
back of 13 kilometers, with
Jordan also demanding the
ceding of Jericho. The state-
ment declared that no meet-
ings on disengagement or
any other subject had taken
place between Israel and
Jordan.)
Kissinger praised what he
termed the tremendous co-
operation of the UN in con-
nection with the Israeli-
E g y p t i a n disengagement
agreement, Without the UN's
role, he said, the accord
would never have been pos-
sible.

(Assistant Secretary Gen-
eral Brian Urquhart, who
just returned from the Mid-
dle East, said that the UN
legal adviser and the UN
legal office are working on
the legal status of UNEF in
the Mideast to determine
such problems as freedom of
movement and deployment
when UNEF is placed as a
"buffer" between the Israeli
and Egyptian forces after
disengagement. A UN spokes-
man said the UNEF strength
to date is 5,882 men).
Israel Ambassador Simha
Dinitz, addressing a meeting
of the Conference of Presi-
dents of Major American
Jewish Organizations, said
that if talks between Israel
and Syria materialize, it has
to be clear that the situation
on the Syrian front is "not
identical" with that on the
Egyptian front because the
military and political situa-
tions are utterly different and
demand different considera-
tions.
Dinitz said the same atti-
tude applied to negotiations
with Jordan. But he stressed
that it was Israel's unequi-

vocal position that no negotia-
tions will be undertaken with
Syria until that country pro-
vides a list of Israeli POWs
in its hands and permits
representatives of the Inter-
national
Red Cross visit
to
the POWs.

Dinitz insisted that there
was no pressure whatsoever
from the U.S. government on
Israel with regard to the
agreement. "We were not
coerced or squeezed or pres-
sured," he said. He said that
Israel's feeling with respect
to the U.S. was that "we
were dealing with a friendly
government" that shared the
same goals. The envoy said
that the overriding principle
behind Israel's pullback from
the Suez Canal was that the
new lines were defensible
and did not pose a risk in
the event of a new war.

Another principle, he said,
was the limitation of wea-
pons in the zones occupied by
both sides which precluded
the threat of SAM missiles
in the skies over the Israeli
zone.

He noted that the agree-
ment provided for inspection
of the limited weapons zones
by the United Nations Emer-
gency Force (UNEF) in
liaison with the party con-
cerned. Dinitz said that Is-
rael had received assurances
of two kinds — those from
Egypt conveyed by the U.S.
and those implicit in the U.S.
interpretation of the agree-
ment's provisions.
He said that from talks
with Secretary of State Henry
A. Kissinger it appeared that
Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat does not intend a new
attack on Israel.
However, Dinitz said,
should the Egyptians renege,
their intentions would become
apparent well before they
were able to launch a new
war. He said that Israel
wanted enough time to elapse
to assure that the agreement
is being carried out by Egypt
"before we are asked to take
a new risk."
Search for Israeli
Dead Soldiers Expected
to Take Many Weeks
TEL AVIV (JTA) — The
operation of locating, collect-
ing and identifying the bodies
of Israeli soldiers killed dur-
ing the Yom Kippur War in
areas now held by Egyptians
will take many weeks.
Till now — after five days
of search — only 17 bodies

French Foreign Minister Asks
Syria to Release Israeli POWs

question, "as we have done
in past circumstances also in
both Syria and Israel."
Jobert, who Tuesday night
returned to Paris, where he
reported to French President
Georges Pompidou and Pre-
mier Pierre Messmer, had
conferred in Syria with Pres-
ident Hafez el Assad and
members of his governnient.
The French minister said
at his press conference that
France supports the principle
of the Geneva Conference but
regrets that "the essential
problems" have not been
discussed. He said that "Had
France been present at the
talks, fundamental problems
would have been given prior-
ity and other conflicts, such
as disengagement, would
have been solved easily and
14 Friday, February 1, 1974 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS naturally."

—

Jobert disclaimed any
French pretention to be con-
sidered "the natural partner"
of the Arab world and pressed
for a larger and deeper co-
operation between Western
Europe and the Arab states.
He also called for an Arab-
European conference which
will examine economic and
political cooperation between
the two partners.
French correspondents who
accompanied Jobert in Da-
mascus reported that the
minister reiterated France's
determination not to change
its self-imposed Arab arms
embargo to the countries en-
gaged in the Middle East
conflict: Israel, Egypt, Syria
and Jordan, in spite of Syrian
requests for French-made
arms.
(Related Stories Page 15)

were found and returned to ment agreement. They fear
Israel for identification and that once Israel withdraws
burial. There are an esti- from the Canal Zone the
mated 350 bodies in the area Egyptians will oppose any
of the Egyptian Second Army further search for bodies still
in the northern Sinai.
unaccounted for and pre-
Chief Army Chaplain Rabbi sumed dead.
Mordechai Firon is heading
Military sources now dis-
this operation in which crews close that since the "cessa-
of the army chaplainship and tion of hostilities" on Oct. 27,
other soldiers are crisscross- Israel has suffered further
ing the areas where a search casualties of 30 dead and 119
was permitted.
wounded, bringing the total
Funeral services were held count of war dead to more
Monday at the military ceme- than 2,530 and the list of
tery of Kiryat Shaul near wounded to approximately
Tel Aviv for Air Force pilot twice that number.
Maoz Porez who was killed
In Paris, the Union of Jew-
during the first days of the ish Students of France
war by Egyptian anti-aircraft (UJSF) has set up here a
fire.
"Committee for the Libera-
Meanwhile, ZINS reports tion of Israeli Prisoner
that profound concern over Syria."
the fate of hundreds of Is-
A UJSF spokesman said
raeli troops missing in action the major aim of the commit-
on the Suez front was voiced tee is to "alert French public
here in a formal protest and opinion about the problem of
appeal to the government by Israeli POWs in Syria," and
worried parents. to see to it "that Syria ac-
Their anxiety has been cepts a reciprocal exchange '
deepened by the disengage- of POWs with Israel."

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