World: THE PAINFUL PRESIDENCY OF EGYPT'S NASSER

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years, 274 Israeli soldiers and 48 civilians have died, and 1,343 Israelis have been wounded at Arab hands, and the country is under almost daily attacks that all the Israeli retaliation strikes have not been able to still. In their cafes and kibbutzim, Israelis, too, talk of a fourth round—while disparaging the Arab "war propaganda" as designed only to frighten the big-power diplomats. Within what they consider Fortress Israel, the Israelis regard with deep suspicion any outside attempt to bargain away the occupied territories that provide them with a measure of security, if not of peace.

Israel's price for handing over that security is in a way nearly as unrealistic as the Arabs' demand that Israel give up the occupied lands for nothing. Justifying her country's demand for face-to-face negotiations, Premier Meir last week declared that "when the Arab representatives overcome their reluctance and reach the stage of direct negotiations, the transformation will be so profound that they themselves and their people will come to realize how many are the advantages that they and not only Israel can derive from peace."

Israel's negotiating position, understandably, is a full 180° from that of the Arabs, while the U.S. and the Soviet Union have staked out bargaining bases between the two. The diverse views are causing complications on four main issues:

∙ THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES. Russia originally agreed with the Arabs that Israel must withdraw to prewar positions before negotiations could begin, but now indicates that an Israeli declaration of intention to withdraw is sufficient at the outset. Israel, realizing that the return of Sinai to Egypt would enhance Nasser's prestige, will trade it off only in return for face-to-face negotiations with the Arabs.

∙ TREATIES. Premier Meir is more vocal than her predecessor, Levi Eshkol, about the need for bilateral talks and a formal treaty as the only means to a lasting peace. Taking Arab intransigence into account, the U.S. is pressing Israel to accept another kind of diplomatic solution. Specifically, the U.S. proposes a declaration of a state of peace, partly inspired by one that in 1956 formalized the end of the Russo-Japanese World War II hostilities. Under such a declaration, the Middle East combatants would separately declare to the United Nations that they were at peace again.

∙ REFUGEES. Jordan's King Hussein conjectures that few Palestinians are willing to return to a Jewish state. Nevertheless, the U.S. urges a plebiscite offering a choice of return or compensation. The fedayeen would doubtless make the outcome meaningless by turning out a sizable yes vote in order to prove that the Palestinian issue is still volcanic, and threaten to overwhelm Israel with Arabs.

∙ JERUSALEM. The holy city of three faiths threatens to become an unholy obstacle to any solution. Israel intends to retain all of the city but would allow Arabs access to Moslem shrines. Hussein demands the return of the Jordanian sector but would let Jews visit the Wailing Wall. The Soviets are proposing that the status of Jerusalem be left for the parties involved to settle themselves.

The Israelis' insistence on keeping Jerusalem and part of the occupied territories has raised in many minds the question of what they really want. They obviously do