Israel agrees to U.S. plan for Palestinians at Geneva

Star-Ledger Wire Services

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JERUSALEM — Israel yesterday reversed its stand and agreed to a United States proposal that it meet at Geneva with a unified Arab delegation.

The U.S. proposal, considered face-saving for both Israel and the Arabs, provides for the unified Arab representation at the opening ceremonies and participation by the Palestinians — so long as they are not known members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).

If the front-line Arab states also agree to the plan, it could be the first step in making a 1977 Geneva peace conference possible. There have been hints Egypt and Jordan might agree to the American proposal, advanced by President Carter. However, no response was forthcoming from any of the Arab countries.

But the new plan, approved by the Israeli cabinet, drew angry condemnation from a major Palestinian commando organization. The Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, one of the umbrella groups under the PLO, described the initiative as “trickery” aimed at depriving Palestinians of equal and independent representation.

A major facet of the proposal accepted by the government of Prime Minister Menahem Begin was that the Arab delegation could not engage in any negotiations, an Israeli spokesman emphasized. He also said that the plan provided for the talks to divide into separate negotiations between Israel and each of the Arab states.

An Israeli Radio commentator said the plan made the prospects for Geneva look their best yet. But one diplomatic source cautioned: “A lot of water will have to flow under the bridge yet.” In Washington, Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan confirmed his government's acceptance of the plan.

But he said the reconvening of the conference would be a symbolic gesture in which the Arab delegation would meet Israeli negotiators.

Interviewed on the CBS program “Face the Nation,” Dayan added that the U.S. suggestion had not yet been formally accepted by the Arab states and that, in any event, the proposal “does not include negotiations with the united delegation — it is just the opening of the conference.”

He said the delegations would then depart and subsequent talks would be conducted with the individual countries. The foreign minister denied that by agreeing to reconvene the Geneva conference Israel was softening its previous stand against dealing with a united Arab front or the PLO.

He referred to Begin's recent remarks that Israel would not check the credentials of the Palestinian Arabs at Geneva, but added: “They must not represent the PLO. If they sympathize with the PLO in the bottom of their hearts, we cannot check this.”

Dayan did not indicate when the conference would be reconvened, and State Department officials in Washington declined to comment on the proposal until it is officially informed of Israel acceptance. In Jerusalem, the government spokesman said the plan was approved by the cabinet at its weekly meeting under Begin.

Ten ministers voted in favor and one, strongly nationalist Agriculture Minister Arik Sharon, came out against the plan. The spokesman emphasized that the proposals originated with Carter during talks in Washington last week with Dayan. The Israelis made one condition for acceptance.

This was that there should be no alterations made to United Nations Resolution 242 — the basic Security Council prescription for Middle East peace. In recent weeks there have been proposals to make Resolution 242 more acceptable to the PLO.

How this transcription was made

Record assembled from 2 scans: the front page (s095_1.jpg) and the Page 10 jump (s095_2.jpg), joined at “by agreeing to reconvene the Geneva con- / ference.” The front page's last line is the standing turn line “(Please turn to Page 10)” and the jump opens “(Continued from Page One)” — both confirm the join. Transcribed from 7–14x crops of every column on both scans. — Page-one running head reads “[N]ew Jersey E Newark, N.J. Monday, September 26, 1977 Ten Cents.” Verified at 14x. Agrees with Maria's label. PAPER NAME, FLAGGED: the credit line under the headline is set “Star-Ledger Wire Services” — WITH A HYPHEN. Maria's label has “The Star Ledger” without one. Do not change pub on my say-so; but if the archive already holds a “Star-Ledger” or a “Star Ledger”, the two spellings would ingest as two newspapers and move a published count. The masthead proper (the flag with the paper's name) is above the trim on this scan — all that survives is the left-hand strap reading “ew Jersey”, so the hyphen comes from the credit line, which is still the paper writing its own name. — “until it is officially informed of Israel acceptance” — the paper sets “Israel acceptance,” not “Israel's.” Verified at 7x. Kept as set. — Two clippings of one article, joined into a single image for the record (s095_1.png, s095_2.png).

Cite this clipping

"Israel agrees to U.S. plan for Palestinians at Geneva," The Star-Ledger, 26 September 1977, p. 1 (front page), jump to Page 10. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1977-037. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1977-037