World: Middle East: Toward the Start of Talks

GUNNAR JARRING, who is known as "the Silent Swede," suddenly found himself cornered one day last week by a group of reporters near his office on the 38th floor of the United Nations Secretariat building in Manhattan. Pelted with questions about the Arab-Israeli discussions that he has been summoned to conduct on behalf of U.N. Secretary-General U Thant, the Swedish diplomat recited an aphorism in Hindi, one of a dozen languages that he knows. Then he translated it: "All is all right." With customary caution, Jarring immediately added, "I mean that only personally."

The situation was beginning to improve professionally, too. To be sure, the Israeli-Egyptian cease-fire remained as tenuous as ever, and Israel continued to accuse the Egyptians of violating the agreement that barred the introduction of new weapons into the 32-mile-wide strip along either side of the Suez. But the truce was more than two weeks old, and it had not been seriously broken by gunfire along the canal. Even more important, both Israel and Egypt quietly began to formulate their bargaining positions. Unless an unforeseen hitch developed, both Israel and Egypt expected the talks to begin this week.

American Promises. Israel broke the log jam by notifying Jarring that it was ready to compromise on the formal details of the talks. Originally, the government of Premier Golda Meir favored holding ministerial-level discussions somewhere close to the Middle East, perhaps on Cyprus; the Egyptians wanted the representatives to be of ambassadorial rank and the site to be New York. Israel finally agreed to New York meetings and said that the preliminary sessions could be handled by ambassadors. As its part of the bargain, the Israeli Cabinet was expected to nominate U.N. Ambassador Yosef Tekoah as its representative. But when the talks reach substantive issues, the negotiating rank probably will be upgraded to the ministerial level. By then, the foreign ministers of the countries involved are scheduled to be in New York attending the U.N. General Assembly, which convenes Sept. 15.

Israel's decision to compromise on negotiation arrangements eased growing tension between Washington and Jerusalem. Fearful of losing the Soviet-Egyptian support that made the ceasefire possible, U.S. diplomats complained that Israel protested far too loudly about the alleged truce violations. Israel became anxious that the U.S. was hedging on its promise to maintain Israeli military superiority in the Middle East. The Israelis took particular offense at Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird's remark that the U.S. possessed better intelligence than Israel.