Talking About the Talks

"What airline did you fly on?" Israeli Premier Golda Meir asked, by way of making small talk. "El Al," answered United Nations Mediator Gunnar Jarring as he met Mrs. Meir and Foreign Minister Abba Eban in Jerusalem. Mrs. Meir beamed proudly. "A safe airline," she said. "No hijacks."

As Jarring's discussions with Israel, Egypt and Jordan resumed last week after a four-month break, angry Arabs protested that Jarring had indeed been hijacked--by the Israelis. Since Egypt and Jordan refuse to deal directly with Israel, Jarring planned to confer with representatives of each government in his 38th-floor office in Manhattan's U.N. building. But much of the week was consumed by his 11,344-mile round-trip flight to Israel. With the Middle East cease-fire due to expire Feb. 5, Jarring hopes to make enough progress so that both sides will agree to continue the truce and keep on talking. The Arabs charged that by drawing Jarring to Jerusalem, the Israelis were stalling in order to wreck the negotiations.

Agreement in Principle. In fact, the Israelis wanted to make a procedural point, and they felt that it was important enough to bring the patient, mild-mannered Swede all the way from New York City. In the three-year history of the on-and-off truce negotiations, procedure has often tended to become substance. The Arabs want discussions held at the U.N., where international pressure is on Israel to settle, and at the ambassadorial level. Israel wants talks held at Cyprus, Rhodes, Crete or some other Mediterranean location, and at the foreign minister level. The Israelis want face-to-face negotiations; the Egyptians and Jordanians do not.

The three nations do agree in principle on one central point--the principle of secure borders for Israel in return for withdrawal of Israeli troops from Arab territories occupied in the 1967 war. Israel's commitment is to withdraw behind whatever "permanent, secure and recognized boundaries are agreed upon, but the Arabs want Israel to withdraw from all occupied territory before any other issue is settled. Egyptian President Anwar Sadat says that he will not extend the cease-fire next month unless Israel produces a withdrawal timetable or unless Jarring achieves notable progress toward one. Israel wants the cease fire to continue as long as the talks go on, and will not withdraw until all matters are settled.

Four-Time Losers. Though neither side seems anxious to resume fighting, each appears determined to make solutions more arduous by firing vocal broadsides. Sadat declared last week that Egypt is ready to fight and has no intention of loosening its ties with the Russians, who "have stood with us in the black hours" (see following story). Mrs. Meir told a Labor Council Assembly that "the Arabs have tried and lost three .'times before, and I have no doubt they will lose a fourth time should they try it again." "We are not expansionists," she told another meeting, "but borders do not exist in the air and we may have to take a little here and more there."

Even without a formal renewal, the cease-fire could continue next month on a de facto basis. This is far from certain, however. The Israelis have intercepted several Egyptian reconnaissance teams in Sinai, and last week four Egyptian Sukhois made two spy sweeps over Israeli lines on the Suez Canal. Earlier, Cairo complained that Israeli jets were making similar recon flights over Egyptian lines. Without a formal ceasefire, a single, accurate burst of antiaircraft fire by either side could swiftly get the hot war started all over again.

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