Progress at Kilometer 3152

"Compared to the debates at the Security Council in New York," declared Israel's Foreign Minister Abba Eban, "this was a relatively civilized exchange of views." The Egyptian delegates seemed no less enthusiastic than Eban. "We have made our way," said a government spokesman, "through a minefield of difficulties."

The subject of this unaccustomed agreement between Israelis and Arabs was the Geneva peace conference, which was off to an auspicious beginning, even though the Syrians had not yet agreed to join the negotiations. For the first time since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948, Arab and Israeli diplomats had sat face to face in the same conference room. More important, the delegates quickly agreed to form a military working committee to resume the negotiations that broke down Nov. 29 at Kilometer 101 on the Cairo-Suez road. The critical subject: the "disengagement" of Egyptian and Israeli forces along the Suez Canal.

Kissinger Trademark. The preliminary agreement bore the unmistakable trademark of U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger: it was precise enough to maintain diplomatic momentum but vague enough to satisfy all parties. The Egyptians were pleased, for instance, that the disengagement talks were beginning so quickly and that "other working groups" were to be set up later. The Israelis were relieved that such imprecise terms as "at some future date" or "as needed in the light of future developments" were included, thereby enabling them to begin the talks immediately, but to stall until after the Israeli elections on Dec. 31 without actually violating the terms of the agreement.

The new talks--which were dubbed "Kilometer 3152" by one Tel Aviv newspaper, based on its calculation of the distance between Switzerland and Israel --began last week. The man in charge was the tenacious, even-handed Finnish commander of the U.N. Emergency Force (UNEF) in the Middle East, Lieut. General Ensio Siilasvuo, who had also presided over the talks at Kilometer 101. Israel's chief representative was Major General Mordechai Gur, his country's military attache in Washington, while the Egyptian side was led by Brigadier General Taha El Magdoub, Cairo's assistant chief of military operations.

Along the Suez Canal there were ripples of unrest. The Israelis complained to UNEF that Egyptian troop advances were taking place along the western shore of the Great Bitter Lake, threatening Israeli supply lines. Later they announced that Egyptian missiles had shot down a pilotless Israeli drone plane on a reconnaissance flight over the canal. But at Geneva both sides still seemed eager to put an optimistic face on their negotiations. At week's end they announced that they had reached "consensus on some principles of disengagement." If they can reach an agreement on this critical problem within the next week or two, they can proceed to talks on such detailed matters as frontiers, demilitarized zones and security guarantees.

The Geneva Conference has proved to be a boon to Israel's war-battered Labor Party coalition, diverting the voters' attention from the trauma of the October fighting to the hope of a genuine peace settlement between Israelis and Arabs. Golda Meir's ruling party has been locked in the fight of its life against the new opposition coalition called Likud (Union) which, like the Gahal coalition before it, is headed by Extreme Nationalist Menachem Begin.

Ever since the war caught their nation unprepared, many normally pro-Labor Israelis had been planning to vote for small parties this time in order to "punish" Labor for its war errors and overconfidence. But as the Likud appeared to be gaining enough strength to carry it to the edge of victory, the "punishment" vote began to dry up.

The Likud coalition favors annexation of occupied territories and is capitalizing on the Labor government's war errors. Asked one of its campaign advertisements: "Do you agree that 'somebody' failed in their assessment of the Arab troop concentrations? That we were caught napping? That going back to the pre-1967 borders is suicide?"

Fighting Back. The Labor leadership is fighting back by trumpeting the government's progress at Geneva and presenting itself as the party best prepared to win a lasting peace. In newspaper ads last week, Labor put some questions to the Likud: "Have you given up your 'not-one-inch' policy? Yes or no? Are you willing to accept a territorial compromise in order to further the chances of peace? Yes or no?" Addressing the electorate, the Labor Party declared: "You will be deciding between a policy of close friendship with the U.S.A. and adventurism endangering this friendship."

One of Likud's strongest assets is Israel's latest war hero, General Ariel ("Arik") Sharon, who led the Israeli army's daring and successful counterthrust across the Suez Canal. Likud's greatest obstacle to victory is clearly Menachem Begin, who has led the opposition since 1948. Born 60 years ago in Brest Litovsk, Begin (pronounced Bay-ghin) came to Palestine with the Polish Army in 1942 and soon set up an anti-British terrorist organization, the Irgun Zvai Leumi. Among the Irgun's acts of savagery under his command were the blowing up of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946, the hanging of two British sergeants, and the massacre of at least 254 Arab civilians in the village of Dir Yassin in 1948. Today Begin is better known for his expansionist belief that his country should absorb all those parts of biblical Israel that it presently occupies. But he has never fully outlived his early reputation as a militant right-wing terrorist.

Undecided Voters. Most political observers believe that the Labor Party will lose some seats in the Knesset, where it has had 57 members to the previous opposition's 31, but this week's election has been unusually difficult to predict. One recent poll put the Likud ahead. On the other hand, the prestigious Institute of Applied Social Research poll found that Labor was leading, 50 seats to the opposition's 40, but that no fewer than 40% of the voters were still undecided ten days before the election. Though the Labor leadership had ample reason to be uneasy, it was hoping that the prospect of a government headed by Menachem Begin would scare a lot of would-be protest voters back into the old Labor fold. Unless Labor wins fairly comfortably, Golda Meir's government will have a hard time making the concessions at Geneva that will be needed for any real settlement with the Arabs.

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