A Ray of Hope

Talks proceed in Cairo

The expectant mood may prove to be unwarranted as it has so often in the past, but last week for the first time in months, both the Israelis and the Egyptians were talking as if they really meant to reach an agreement on Palestinian autonomy by April 26, the deadline under the Camp David agreements for Israeli withdrawal from the rest of the Sinai.

In a planning session for next week's ministerial meetings in Cairo, the Israelis proposed that the negotiators concentrate on a single issue: the nature of the self-governing authority for an autonomous West Bank and Gaza Strip. Indeed, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin talked as if an agreement on that issue would lead straight to a solution of even thornier matters, such as the Israeli settlements on the West Bank and the future status of East Jerusalem and its 100,000 Arab residents.

Why was Begin so bullish? For one thing, he is said to believe that Israel and Egypt have a far better chance of achieving a lasting peace if they can sign an autonomy agreement before the Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai next April. For another, he much prefers the Camp David peace process to any of the other alternatives that are currently being discussed in the Middle East, Europe and elsewhere. He has no interest in the latest call for an international conference by the Soviet Union, which two weeks ago granted full diplomatic recognition to the Palestine Liberation Organization. Nor is he particularly happy about the complex peace plan proposed last summer by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Fahd. The Fahd plan implicitly calls for Arab recognition of Israel in return for a withdrawal by Israel to its 1967 borders and the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. The Western Europeans, on the other hand, are impressed with the Fahd plan as a basis for future negotiations. Last week Britain, France, Italy and The Netherlands were preparing to contribute small troop contingents to a 2,500-member Sinai peace-keeping force (which will also include soldiers from the U.S. and several other countries). But they were planning to do so on the understanding that Washington would recognize the Europeans' right to play a renewed role in the Middle East. This week Lord Carrington, the British Foreign Secretary and the current president of the European Community's council of ministers, flies to Saudi Arabia to discuss both the Fahd plan and the Community's own Venice declaration, which calls on Israel and the P.L.O. to recognize each other as a prelude to negotiation. The Reagan Administration remains committed to the Camp David peace process, but has quietly indicated that it welcomes the efforts of the Europeans and the Saudis to break the deadlock.

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