THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 12 JANUARY 1976

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006015001
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: January 12, 1976

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The President's Daily Brief
January 12, 1976
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Exempt from general
declassification scheduk of ED. 11652
exemption category.5B(1)A2)(3)
declassified onfii on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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January 12, 1976
Table of Contents
UN- Middle East - USSR: Saudi Foreign Minister
Prince Saud says Saudi Arabia has coordinated
with Syria, Egypt, and the PLO a constructive
resolution for the Security Council debate.
(Page 12
Lebanon: Fighting spread to nearly all sectors
of Beirut during the weekend. (Page 4)
Cuba-Angola:
(Page 5)
USSR-Angola: The Soviet Kresta II class cruiser
off west Africa is en route to the Gulf of
Guinea.
(Page 7)
Italy: Major parties begin talks with President
Leone today on how to replace the Moro gov-
ernment. (Page 9)
Notes: Ecuador; Spain (Page 11)
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UN - MIDDLE EAST - USSR
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud
informed the US embassy Saturday that
Saudi Arabia has coordinated with Syria,
Egypt, and the Palestine Liberation Or-
ganization a unified, "constructive"
resolution for the UN Security Council
debate on the Middle East that begins
today. There are other indications,
however, that some Syrians and Palestin-
ians may be pressing for a more strident
resolution.
According to Prince Saud, agreement was reached
on a three-part resolution that would include pro-
vision for:
--Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories,
without employing the controversial term "the
territories" that the Arabs usually use to
imply a total withdrawal.
--The rights of the Palestinians, apparently
without specifying that these include "na-
tional" rights or the right to a homeland or
state.
--Guarantee of security for the states of the
area.
Syrian President Asad and most senior Syrian
officials are widely reported as wanting to obtain
passage of a resolution that is temperately worded
and to avoid a US veto. It is not clear, however,
that Syria's idea of temperate language accords
with US thinking. There is also considerable ques-
tion whether the Arabs have watered down their de-
mands to the extent Prince Saud implies.
While there seems little doubt that President
Asad will strive to avoid a US veto, his room for
maneuver is somewhat limited. Having pressed for
the Security Council debate in order to emphasize
Syrian frustration at the lack of progress in peace
negotiations and to press for PLO participation in
(continued)
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negotiations, Syria cannot end the debate with less
than recognition--at least in general terms--of the
need for further Israeli withdrawal and the princi-
ple of Palestinian rights.
How far the Syrians will press these issues
will depend in large measure on how they perceive
the US reaction. Encouraged by the US statement
last November underscoring the importance of the
Palestinian problem, Syria tends to believe that
the idea of PLO participation in negotiations is
gaining greater acceptance within the US government.
If the Syrians believe the US position at the UN
still gives reason for encouragement, they might
accept a vaguely worded resolution that avoided
spelling out the extent of Israeli withdrawals or
the specifics of Palestinian rights.
Indeed, the position outlined by Saudi Prince
Saud may constitute the Syrians' and Palestinians'
minimum position--one they could accept if they be-
lieve the US had adopted an accommodating position.
There have been indications that the PLO too wants
to avoid a sterile polemical debate, and it might
be receptive to a compromise formula on Palestinian
rights.
Egypt has not played an influential role in the
formulation of Arab strategy. In contacts with PLO
leaders, Egyptian officials have urged that the PLO
take an accommodating approach. Egyptian media have
repeatedly advocated Arab flexibility as the best
means of calling Israel's bluff.
Egyptian influence is so limited at this point,
however, that its calls for moderation will have
little impact with the PLO unless that organization
itself decides, in conjuction with Syria, that this
is a wise course. Egypt has had no contact with
Syria at all on the issue.
Israel is maintaining its vigorous opposition
to the Security Council debate and particularly to
the expected participation of the PLO. The Israelis
are looking to Washington to hold the line against
possible Arab attempts to push through a resolution
that could provide an opening for the inclusion of
the Palestinians as separate participants in nego-
tiations.
(continued)
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The USSR is unenthusiastic about the Security
Council discussions. A statement issued Friday re-
flects Moscow's concern that the debate will hamper
efforts to reconvene the Geneva conference--where
the USSR enjoys a role co-equal with the US--and
suggests disapproval of any Syrian effort to alter
substantially the basic Security Council resolutions
regarding the Middle East. /
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LEBANON
Fighting spread to nearly an sectors
of Beirut, including the central hotel
district, during the weekend. In the
eastern suburbs, leftist and Palestinian
forces continue efforts to break the
Christian blockade of two Palestinian
refugee camps.
Following a meeting on Saturday between Prime
Minister Karami and other Muslim leaders at which
Karami denounced the Christian blockade, the Leb-
anese army announced that it would escort a convoy
of food and water supplies to the camps. Continued
fighting, however, has prevented the convoy from
moving.
Passage of the convoy--if it seemed to signal
Christian intent to compromise--might induce the
Palestinians to end their involvement in the fight-
ing. They would still probably insist on a guar-
antee of free access to the camps. Continuation
of the blockade has induced more Palestinian ac-
tivity elsewhere in the city.
The Palestine Liberation Organization has
played a generally constructive role in attempting
to rein in Muslim leftist forces./
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CUBA?ANGOLA
(continued)
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Gulf of Cadizt-J, cz'sL1'
? ? ;
Strait of Gibraltar
Mediterranean Sea
SPAHISH
SAHARA
Conakry
..pulf-ot Guinea
,GABON
Pointe
Luanda
? ANGOLA
559087 1-76 CIA
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USSR-ANGOLA
The Soviet Kresta II class cruiser
off west Africa is en route to the Gulf
of Guinea after pausing yesterday near
Conakry, Guinea, probably to take on fuel
from a Soviet tanker. The cruiser pre-
sumably will rendezvous later this week
with the Kotlin class destroyer now in the
Gulf of Guinea. We have confirmed the
presence of a second tanker in the Gulf
of Guinea.
The destroyer is scheduled to call at Pointe
Noire, Congo, from January 18 to 25. A Soviet
landing ship that had been at Pointe Noire left
either Friday or Saturday and was last located off
the coast of Gabon.
The Sverdlov class cruiser that recently en-
tered the Mediterranean is still heading west;
yesterday, it was northwest of Algiers. We be-
lieve it will rendezvous near the Strait of Gi-
braltar today with a Kresta I class cruiser and a
Kashin class destroyer that have been off the
coast of southern Portugal.
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The Soviet intelligence collection ship that
left its normal patrol station in the Gulf of
Cadiz last week was detected on Saturday near the
border of Morocco and Spanish Sahara. It is pre-
sumably en route to the Angolan coast to expand
Soviet military communications there.
(continued)
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ITALY
Italy's major parties begin talks
with President Leone today on how to re-
place the Moro government. The major
point of dispute among the parties re-
mains the question of whether the Com-
munist opposition should be consulted
more openly and formally by the next
government as demanded last week by the
Socialist Party.
The Christian Democrats implied in strategy
talks with other parties over the weekend that they
are prepared to give the Socialists a substantially
larger and more influential cabinet role to lure
them back into a coalition. The Christian Demo-
crats have ruled out any arrangement, however, that
would establish a formal consultative relationship
between the government and the Communists.
The Socialists are feeling increasingly iso-
lated. All of their potential supporters--most
important organized labor--have criticized the
Socialists for toppling the Moro government and
forcing the Communist issue to the forefront. This
criticism probably accounts in part for the greater
flexibility shown by Socialist leader De Martino
since the fall of the cabinet.
Instead of arguing that Communist "support"
should be sought by any new government--as he did
last week--De Martino now talks in terms of a
Communist "contribution." He insists that his
critics are wrong in seeing the Socialist position
as a choice between an opening to the Communists
and an early parliamentary election.
The Communists continue to emphasize their
opposition to an early parliamentary election and
to criticize the Socialists for precipitating a
confrontation in the midst of efforts in parlia-
ment to deal with the country's severe economic
problems. Nevertheless, Communist insistence
that the next government will not be effective un-
less it gives more weight to Communist views may
indicate a willingness to enter some arrangement
(continued)
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A- 1- 1 A- \J i. L-1 A.
along lines being proposed by the Socialists. Al-
though the party has agreed to an informal role in
some of the regional governments it does not con-
trol, it has so far discouraged attempts to try the
idea at the national level.
President Leone and the man he nominates as
prime minister will be searching for a formula to
reconcile the competing views of the Christian Dem-
ocrats and Socialists on the Communist issue.
Leone reportedly still leans toward Moro as
his choice for prime minister. Budget Minister
Andreotti is being mentioned more frequently than
heretofore because of his close relations with one
of the Socialist leaders.
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_ _ _ . _ _
NOTES
Ecuadorean President Rodriguez' resignation
yesterday in favor of a three-man junta is unlikely
to affect foreign and domestic policies; neither
will it affect growing dissatisfaction with military
rule.
The junta, composed of the three armed service
chiefs, has announced that it will turn the country
over to civilian rule by the end of 1977--a time-
table that will not appease critics who were demand-
ing that Rodriguez hold an election reasonably soon.
The reported difficulty with which the three serv-
ice chiefs arrived at the present arrangement and
their serious personality conflicts do not augur
well for the new leaders' success in solving the
economic and social problems that plagued Rodriguez.
Labor tension persists in Spain despite the
end of the Madrid subway strike yesterday.
Under the temporary settlement, the workers
have been granted a wage increase and promised no
reprisals. Although the five-day strike was ended
with relative ease, it has inspired other work stop-
pages. Some 75,000 workers throughout the country
were on strike over the weekend for higher wages.
In Madrid alone, strikes closed five large plants.
Yesterday, police used tear gas and arrested
about a dozen persons who demonstrated for pay
raises and political amnesty. Communist labor
leader Marcelino Camacho, who was released in Novem-
ber under a partial amnesty decreed by the King,
charged that the government is reverting to the
methods of the Franco regime. He claimed that al-
though the workers are fighting for justifiable
wage increases and have no intention of political
subversion, it is inevitable that economic griev-
ances become linked to political demands.
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Top Secret
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