DIPLOMACY: Begin Brings His Plans For Peace

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Style aside, Begin's unchanged position that Israel must maintain some form of control over the West Bank is unacceptable to the Arabs. By offering what amounts to an American outline for peace in the Middle East, Carter has avoided so far the ominous possibility of another war, but he has also raised expectations, particularly on the Arab side, dangerously high. Meeting in Athens to compare notes on neutral ground, TIME Jerusalem Bureau Chief Donald Neff and Cairo Bureau Chief Wilton Wynn agreed that Washington's strategy carries great risks in case of failure.

"No matter how exaggerated are Arab expectations of Carter's influence on Israel," Neff and Wynn cabled, "these nations sincerely believe that the only road to peace leads through the White House. The danger for Carter is that if he fails to produce peace, he will be blamed vehemently by the Arabs and the region will be set perilously adrift, possibly toward war. In a bewildered, bellicose mood, Israel quite conceivably could defy Carter's considerable leverage on that small country by opting for war. The Arabs have everything to gain if Carter's peace plan works. But if it does not, they will consider the failure a deliberate lack of will on the part of Carter and the U.S., leaving them with no choice but to turn their backs on the West and take up other strategies."