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FBIS Coverage of the Middle East Peace Talks: 1977 December

Central Intelligence Agency · 65 pages · text from the file's own layer

This is a Central Intelligence Agency release of Foreign Broadcast Information Service coverage of the Middle East peace talks from December 1977. It collects British, Israeli and Soviet press and radio items on President as-Sadat's initiative and the planned Cairo conference. It also covers Prime Minister Begin's visit to London, Secretary of State Vance's regional tour and the Knesset debate on the peace plan. It contains no material on unidentified aerial phenomena.

PPROVED FOR RELEASE CIA HISTORICAL COLLE IVISION AR 70-14 13NOV201
i. (Dec// U N I T E D K NGDOM Q 1
BEGIN CANCELS 6 DEC MEETINGS, TO LEAVE AS SCHEDULED
LD0617'48Y London PRESS ASSOCIATIONip English 1640 GMT 6 Dec 77 LD
(Text] Mr Begin cancelled a meeting with the Tory deputy leader, Mr Whitelaw, this
afternoon. Though "much better" he was not expected to attend a reception of the
lerut movernont tonight. But leaders of the movement were expected to call on him.
A rae Embassy spokesman said Mr Begin would be leaving London tomorrow as scheduled.
7 Dec Press Conference Reported
LD071350Y London BBC Domestic Television Service in English 1245 GMT 7 Dec 77 LD
[Text] Israel's prime minister, Mr Begin. has ended his 5-day visit to Britain. At
a news conference he said that is Egypt's President as-Sadat asked him to conclude
a separate peace treaty with Egypt, he would not refuse. But this would be Just a
stage in the peace-making process. He said Israel wants real peace with all her
neighbors.
[Start Begin: recording] We never suggested to President as-Sadat during his stay in
Jerusalem, or the following week, to have a seaprate peace treaty. I prefer the
expression "peace treaty" instead of "deal." We do not make deals between Egypt and
Israel. Because we do not want, we never intended, to drive a wedge between the
Arab countries, the neighbors of Israel. We want real peace, we want peace with all
our neighbors. And we want them all to participate in the peace-making process.
On this we are in complete agreement with Egypt. And we shall continue to make
efforts, I hope with the help of the U.S., to have the consultations with other
neighboring countries about the establishment of peace in the Middle East. Of course,
if President as-Sadat reaches the conclusion that other neighbors do not Join in that
peace-making effort, and he would suggest to us to sign a peace treaty between Egypt
and Israel, we will not refuse to do so.
[Question) Mr Prime Minister, in the light of this past week's events, how do you
realistically assess the chances for reconvening the Geneva conference?
(Answer] I think the Geneva conference has good prospects of being reconvened.
Of course, there must be a number of participants. If, for instance, Syria does
not come but Jordan and Egypt participate, we shall go to Geneva, as we did 4 years
ago. Syria also did not participate in the first session of the Geneva conference
in 1973. If there should be only bilateral talks between Egypt and Israel, and.
the two cochairmen, we shall have to decide whether it should be deemed to be another
Geneva conference or a different conference. But we shall know about it in the next
few weeks. [end recording]
BRITAIN REFUSES TO RECOGNIZE BOPHUTHATSWANA
LD061434Y London PRESS ASSOCIATION in English 1410 GMT 6 Dec 77 LD
[Bv Tom McMullan, diplomatic correspondent)
[Text] .ritain will not recognise the independence of Bophuthatswana, the South
African homeland territory which declared its independence today, the Foreign
Office said.

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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 65 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.