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THE PRESIDENT HAS SEEN REVIEW OF THURS AM PAPERS DIGEST OF RECENT COMMENT APRIL 11, 1974 MIDEAST CBS AM's Kalb said HAK was clearly not briefed on Israeli situation when he went before Foreign Relations, but afterwards he chose to take the high ground and was optimistic. On film, HAK said Israel is aware disengagement is important for M-E peace, and he expects to continue the pace in upcoming talks. State also said Meir's resignation would affect negotiations, reported Kalb. Tho assumption is Meir would head caretaker govt and talks will proceed as planned, that overlooks interrelated aspects of politics and diplomacy. If Syria makes hard demands re: w/drawal, caretaker govt might not be strong enough to make a response. There's also question of Soviet participation in negotiations and what line USSR will take, but that may become clear when HAK-Gromyko meet, concluded Kalb Sun's Mills suggests resignation "lends a certain lameduck quality" to proposal Israelis gave HAK. Noting HAK intended to let Syrians "mull over 11 Israeli proposal and "then in about 10 days fly to Damascus and Jerusalem to try to narrow the differences, 11 Carter of NY News says Meir govt collapse "could put the timetable back indefinitely. 11 Noting "Israelis political crisis couldn't have blown up at a worse time, " coinciding w/ Syrian talks w/ HAK, Sun says the country "needs a govt sufficiently confident of broad support to explore such avenues to peace as may exist. Both Meir and Dayan have seen this need, 11 and thus, "world would be better off if both of them continued to hold responsible positions -- if not their present positions -- in coming months. 11 Monitor is Ofner says Meir resignation marks the end of an era, the era of strong gov't in Israel. Monitor regrets Meir's departure but it's "part of a painful but necessary and constructive process going on in Israel about the nature of Israel and its future. 11 M-E war was a watershed in Israeli thinking and Israel should not now be rushed thru the rethinking of whether peace w/ Arabs might not bring more rather than less security.