More Time to Talk

MlDDLE EAST

As midnight approached, the nonchalant mood that had prevailed along both banks of the Suez Canal swiftly evaporated. The 90-day cease-fire negotiated by the U.S. was ticking to an end. Israeli and Egyptian soldiers crept back into their bunkers. Lights were doused, guns cocked, vehicles halted, radios turned down, movies canceled. But midnight passed with no more hostile sounds than the whine of the wind and the soft swish of the canal water.

Major Difference. Neither side seemed eager to resume fighting. While the cease-fire might thus have continued on a de facto basis, it was given formal support at almost the last moment. By a vote of 57-16, with 39 abstentions, the United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution calling for extension of the truce for a second 90-day period. The Israelis dismissed the resolution, introduced by a bloc of Afro-Asian nations, as deliberately one-sided; it demanded withdrawal of Israeli troops from Arab territory, but it ignored the massive missile buildup that Egypt and the Soviet Union engineered on the canal's west bank in violation of the initial cease-fire agreement. Only because of amendments introduced by France did the measure include proposals for lasting peace, secure boundaries and recognition of sovereignty for all Middle East states. The final resolution thus resembled the 1967 Security Council proposal that formed the basis for earlier U.N. and U.S. peace efforts. But the resolution said nothing about maintaining a standstill in the Canal Zone, leaving Egypt free to improve its network of Soviet-built (and in some cases Soviet-manned) missiles. It also left Israel free to build up its defenses without limit.

The extended cease-fire does at least provide another period of calm in which U.N. Mediator Gunnar V. Jarring can attempt to initiate peace talks. Egypt's foreign minister, Mahmoud Riad, conferred with Jarring in New York last week, but President Anwar Sadat at the same time warned in Cairo that Egypt will scrap the cease-fire unless more serious negotiations take place. Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban also met with Jarring in New York, but the Israelis maintain that they will not negotiate through him unless Egypt removes the missiles it has clustered in the Canal Zone.

Despite that unyielding stand, Israel's allies hope that Premier Golda Meir will finally agree to less than total withdrawal of Egyptian missiles. Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Joseph Sisco may hit upon an alternative when they resume their Middle East discussions in Washington. Or, perhaps Russia and Israel will work something out. The Soviets have initiated talks with Israel in Europe on the possibility of resuming diplomatic relations severed by the Russians at the end of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

Before the war, the Russians had the biggest embassy in Israel, with as many as 120 employees; they now miss the intelligence gathered by that swollen staff. Restoration of relations would also give the Soviets a chance to move Israel, at least in small ways, away from the U.S. As for the Israelis, renewed relations might enable them to argue their case in Communist capitals.

Mutual Fears. The negotiators everywhere realize that they have only 90 days --if that--to get a dialogue under way. After the cease-fire extension runs out. another may prove impossible to arrange. The Israelis fear that they will lose their chief advantage--air superiority to protect ground forces from Egyptian artillery--if Cairo is free to go on building its missile network. At the same time, Cairo fears that the longer the cease-fire continues, the tighter Israel's grip will grow on occupied Egyptian territory.

Indeed, the Israelis used the first ceasefire to make major improvements on the Bar-Lev line, a series of fortifications named for the army's chief of staff. Engineers reinforced the forts all along the line, replacing sandbags with concrete and adding cover for Israeli soldiers. Roads were paved to speed traffic and deter mine laying, water and sewer lines were installed and, behind the lines, large ammunition and fuel depots were constructed and new forces moved up.

"The Jews have built the pyramids a second time," said one Israeli officer last week as he showed TIME Correspondent Marlin Levin around the refurbished fortifications. "Only this time we have built them in freedom." So extensive are the improvements that troops on the front can now call home by telephone or order flowers for their girl friends through Interflora.

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