Word: rabin
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...bark than bite. Last week, as Cairo and Jerusalem were engaged in an elaborate game of diplomatic bluff, the rhetoric exploded again. Negotiations over a second-stage disengagement in Sinai hit snags that on the surface at least indicated the possibility of deadlock. But even as Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin was dismissing Egyptian proposals as unacceptable last week, he was also insisting that the talks must continue...
...first time, Cairo reportedly accepted in principle the presence of Israelis at the eastern edge of the passes, although not in the same places that Jerusalem suggested. The lines drawn by the Egyptians came so close to the big Israeli airbase at Bir Gifgafa that Rabin, even before he consulted with his Cabinet, appeared on Israeli television to dismiss Cairo's suggestions out of hand...
Israel had responded to the Egyptian moves by calling up reservists to the Sinai front, but Rabin and his government doubted all along that Egypt was economically or militarily ready for another war. The Israelis were less angered by Egypt's threat than by some of the hostile language emanating from Cairo. Sadat referred to Israel as an "imperial creation" and as "a dagger in Egypt's side." Visibly annoyed, Premier Rabin charged that Sadat was not serious about peace, and that there could be no agreement unless and until the Egyptians agree to face-to-face talks...
...Kissinger seemed to be making progress toward the kind of agreement that Cairo wants. U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Herman Eilts, who apparently had no inkling of Fahmy's announcement, flew from Cairo to Washington the same day for a Kissinger briefing on the Secretary's talks with Rabin. Kissinger himself called the move "disturbing" and "extremely unfortunate." Israelis insisted that the Egyptian threat was an empty bluff by Cairo to increase Washington's pressure on Israel. In any case, Rabin told the Knesset, "Israel is not a country that makes a practice of accepting dictates." Rabin sent...
...Rabin's don't-push-me attitude is obviously bolstered by Israel's national mood. Recent polls indicate that 60% of Israelis want to hold on to the Mitla and Giddi passes. Last week some of the 20,000 people at a rally sponsored by the right-wing opposition Likud Bloc stoned the U.S. embassy in Tel Aviv to protest American pressure on Israel to make concessions. They carried signs with anti-Kissinger statements. Read one: "Dr. K.-we shall not win you another peace prize with our blood...