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Israeli Press Coverage of Cairo Preparations Begins,
The Jewish News to Receive Complete Reports via JTA
See story on Page 24
The Contest
for Jewish Agency
Leadership
the WZCongress
THE
Election
"Commentary, Page 2
Review
NEWS .
of Jewish Events
The Miracle
of the Handshake
and Sadat
on Tripoli
Editorials, Page 4
VOL. LXXII, No. 14 17515 W. Nine Mile, Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075 424-8833 $12.00 Per Year: This Issue 30° December 9, 1977
`Irreversible Process' for M. E. Settlement
—
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance
World Attention Focused on Cairo
With Israel, Egypt Drafting Peace
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance said
Tuesday that the conversations between Egyptian President Anwar
Sadat and Israeli Premier Menahem Begin have begun an "irreversible
process" towards a Middle East settlement. He said his own upcoming
visit to the area is to seek to bring other nations into this process.
Announcing that Syria has now "welcomed - him to visit Damascus
on his journey to Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia,
Vance said "our sro.er role is to support and reinforce" those
"crosscurrents" moving toward bringing
Arab -and Israeli positions closer together
"while using our relationship across the
spectrum to moderate" those that are
pulling those positions wider apart. "I
will be seeking to do both on my visit to
the area, - he said at a news conference
at the State Department.
Strongly supporting the Cairo confer-
ence, Vance said. "We intend to help"
Sadat and Begin "wherever possible to
enlarge - the opening they have made
toward the settlement.
A reporter asked Vance whether the
visit to Moscow by Undersecretary of
State for Political Affairs Philip Habib
was to tell the Soviet Union that it was
not as constructive as the U.S. would like
CYRUS VANCE
it to be in view of the strong Soviet
support for Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organization, which have
attacked Egypt and joined in a confrontation alliance at Tripoli, Libya
against Sadat.
In so far as the Soviet Union is concerned. - Vance said, "they have
responsibilities as co-chairman" of the Geneva conference. "Some
Soviet statements in recent days have not been helpful. They raise
questions - about their "ultimate objectives - in the Mideast. But Vance
added that the U.S. still believes the Soviets want a comprehensive
settlement.
-e said that Habib, who had been in Moscow since Saturday, would
to him in Brussels. Vance left Tuesday night for Belgium for the
winter meeting before going to the Mideast.
Vance denounced a reporter's suggestion that U.S. enthusiasm for the
(Continued on Page 2O )
It will take some time, but
we are already on the road to
peace. The road to peace is
open and we shall keep it
open.
—Menahem Begin
Our proper role is to sup-
port and reinforce those
crosscurrents moving toward
bringing the Arab and Israeli
positions closer together,
while using our relationship
across the spectrum to mod-
erate those that are pulling
those positions wider apart.
—Cyrus Vance
We hope this will result in
further face-to-face negotia-
tions which will lead to a
comprehensive, just and
durable peace.
— unanimous resolution
of the U.S. House
of Representatives
Egypt will carry through
peace negotiations "through
to the end" with Israel alone
if others refuse to take part.
-
— Anwar Sadat
Sadat is finished outside
Egypt, and his days within
the country are numbered. It
is so clear that he is a
traitor.
'George Habash, Popular
Front for the Liberation
of Palestine
JERUSALEM (JTA)—Premier Menahem Begin is expected to name
additional senior officials to the Israeli negotiating team that will
attend the Cairo conference next week. The delegation, headed by
Eliahu Ben-Elissar, direCtor general of the Prime Minister's Office,
and Meir Rosenne, legal advisor to the Foreign Ministry, is scheduled to
leave for Cairo Saturday night. The conference is due to open on
Wednesday.
Officials did not rule out the possibility that Foreign Minister Moshe
Dayan might join the Cairo talks at a
later stage. Dayan, briefing the Knesset's
foreign -affairs and security committee,
said Israel was prepared to raise the
level of its Cairo delegation by "the most
senior" official if Egypt asked for it and
extended the appropriate invitation. He
said the diplomatic level of the talks was
determined by the Egyptian invitation
addressed to him last month. President
Anwar Sadat of Egypt indicated dis-
appointment, in an American press inter-
view this week, that the Israeli delegation
will consist of officials rather than Cabi-
net-level policy-makers.
It is assumed by Israeli observers that
Ben-Elissar and Rosenne will be empo-
wered to discuss a draft peace plan in
Cairo and to define the areas of dispute
with Egypt. The second phase of the
-
MOSHE DAYAN
negotiations will depend on Egypt's deci-
sion whether Cairo or Geneva should
serve as the location for a conference that would go into the details of a
proposed peace settlement.
They believe that at some point in the conference, secret talks at the
highest level might take place between Israel and Egypt, probably in
the Sinai buffer zone far from the news media gathered in Cairo.
Meanwhile, Ben-Elissar and Rosenne were reportedly at work on a
"draft treaty for peace with Egypt" which they hope can serve as a
starting point for the Cairo conference.
The original draft was worked out earlier this year by Rosenne and
Attorney General Aharon Barak and was submitted to the neighboring
Arab states through the U.S. It is designed to serve as a prototype for
peace agreements with each confrontation country. Egypt never
(Continued on Page 19)
•
U.S. Is Urged to Provide Strong UNESCO Leadership
By ALAN HITSKY
The United Nations Educational, Scientific
and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) took a
significant step forward at Nairobi in 1976 by
admitting Israel to its European region and
toning down stronger resolutions, according
to Prof. Thomas Buergenthal, in Detroit this
week for meetings of the U.S. Commission
for UNESCO at the Plaza Hotel.
Prof. Buergenthal, the U.S. Commission's
human rights expert and member of a
UNESCO executive committee on human
rights, believes that the U.S. should continue
to be a major force in UNESCO in order to
obtain U.S. foreign policy objectives.
He credited UNESCO's Se-cretary-General
M'Bow of Senegal with helping to lead the
agency away from its 1974 resolutions con-
demning Israel for its archeological digs in
Jerusalem (despite UNESCO experts' praise
for the digs). "M" Bow was quite effective
in keeping controversial matters off the floor
at Nairobi," Prof. Buergenthal said, "and
placing Israel in the European region was a
step forward.
"This suggests to me that the UNESCO
leadership, the secretariat, is concerned and
trying to do something about the crazies. But
it is a long process."
Prof. Buergenthal said the U.S. Commis-
sion, a 100-member civilian panel which
advises the U.S. State Department and the prisoned at age 10. His mother was a
Congress, is going to emphasize in its resolu- German Jew, his father a Polish Jew, and he
tions this week that some progress has been was born in Czechoslovakia.
made on the issues of concern to the U.S.:
He is currently serving on a UNESCO
Israel and a Russian-backed proposal that
committee that is formulating a means of
would lead to world-wide media censorship.
"The agenda we (the U.S. Commission) dealing with human rights complaints. That
will adopt is to emphasize the normalization committee will meet again in January to
of (UNESCO) relations with Israel and the complete its report to the UNESCO directo-
withdrawal of the resolutions. That is unlike- rate.
ly. But the U.S. should make every effort to
"UNESCO is educational, scientific and
oppose any action that is anti-Israel or on cultural, - Dr. Buergenthal said. "It is likely
the censorship resolution," he said.
there will be many complaints against Rus-
Prof. Buergenthal is Fulbright-Jaworski sia in these areas."
Professor of International Law at the Uni-
He added, "We pushed hard in Nairobi for
versity of Texas and is one of the youngest
(Continued on Page 26)
survivors of Auschwitz, where he was im-