MIDDLE EAST: A Warning Shot Across Begin's Bow

Disturbed by what it perceives to be increasingly ominous Israeli stubbornness over Middle East peace negotiations, the Carter Administration last week fired a diplomatic warning shot across the bow of new Premier Menachem Begin. The shot was a carefully prepared, ten-paragraph statement that was pointedly cleared by the White House and issued just three weeks before the Premier's arrival in Washington for his first meeting with President Carter. The message, read by State Department Spokesman Hodding Carter III at a news briefing, was that "negotiations must start without any preconditions" from...

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