Documents / FOIA release
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.
“Cairo”42 pages
PPROVED FOR RELEASE CIA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS DIVISION AR 70-14 13NO\/201 V. 29 Dec 77 N 17 ISRAEL [MK Hillel, Alinement, interrupting] Sir, Prime Minister, I understand that the Egyptian president preferred a total Israeli withdrawal rather than a territorial compromise in Sinai. Is this true? [Begin] I have already spoken about this, that there are equal negotiations between two equal parties.. .There are no diktats and no threats. Nobody will threaten the Israeli delegation, either in Cairo or in Jerusalem, and we will discuss the proposals. They, too, will discuss the proposals, and I hope that we will reach a settlement. If the other party presents impossible demands, demands which it knows to be impossible for us, they will not be accepted. Calmly and quietly we will say: We do not accept your proposals. This is the nature of free negotiations. This is how things have always proceeded in every debate over a peace treaty. Finally an agreement is .reached. Some- times it takes a long time. Sometimes there are even breaks in the negotiations, and the parties meet again until agreement is reached and a peace treaty is signed. [MK Yadlin, Alinement] Mr Prime Minister, will this be your position also in regard to the Golan Heights? Will you also oppose a territorial compromise there? [Begin) Mr former Education Minister, today we are not speaking about the Golan Heights, and As-Sadat does not propose to speak about our northern border. Al-Asad does not want to conduct negotiations with us. There are no negotiations about the Golan Heights. When he comes to hold negotiations with us, we will determine our position. You will know about it and will be able to react to it. Today, there are no talks about the Golan Heights as long as the Syrian leader does not come for negotiations, and this is with the agreement of the Egyptian president. Mr Chairman, the debate, which has lasted for about 11 hours has ended.... [MK Yizhaq Yizhaqi interrupts] Mr Prime Minister, will there be a public referendum? Will there be a public referendum finally, at the moment of decision? [Begin] My friend Mr Yizhaqi, our law does not have this term referendum. Those who want to propose it should propose it. For this a law should be passed. If a majority favors a public referendum, I will surely accept the Knesset law. I heard that it was proposed that new elections be held. I am ready. However, all these things--a public - )referendum, elections--do not bother us. The people can always have their say. The practical matter [of peace] is in the focus of our attention. We have embarked on the road of direct negotiations. There is great moral support in the free world for this. We will follow this road and, God willing, we will succeed and bring peace. Mr Chairman, the debate has ended. I now ask that the voting begin, and I asking each Knesset mem- ber, regardless of faction, to vote according to his conscience. There is no imposition or compulsion. Each should vote according to his conscience. I am sure of the result. Knesset Approves Plan TA282023Y Jerusalem Domestic Service in Hebrew 2000 GMT 28 Dec 77 TA [Text] By a majority of 64 to 8, the Knesset took note of the prime ministerts remarks in the debate about the peace plan after an 11-hour debate. Forty Knesset members abstained.
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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.