Interview With the President Excerpt From a Question-and-Answer Session With Daniel Schorr and George Watson of the Cable News Network.

MR. SCHORR. Mr. President, on the tangled skein of international problems you could start almost anywhere—

THE PRESIDENT. Yes.

MR. SCHORR.—but let us start, because it's current, on the problem of Palestinian autonomy talks. They have reached a snag, if not broken down altogether. The Europeans now appear to be getting ready with some kind of initiative in which they're going to move ahead in a pro-Palestinian direction. Are you worried about it? If so, what can you do about it?

THE PRESIDENT. Yes, I'm worried about it and have been for the last 3 years or so. It's important to put this thing in perspective. Two years ago nobody thought that there would be any direct talks between an Arab country and the Israelis under any circumstances or that there could be peace between the major Arab nation of Egypt and Israel; or nobody dreamed that there would be diplomatic relations established and tourists flying back and forth between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on the one hand, and Alexandria and Cairo on the other.

We've had enormous progress already made, because of the courage and the conviction of the Israeli and the Egyptian leaders. Before the Mideast peace treaty was signed in front of the White House here, a little more than a year ago, and before the Camp David agreement was reached, we had equally difficult and intransigent problems to address, and there was an equally discouraged attitude among some who didn't have faith in the peace process.

We've got to maintain the basis for the peace negotiations—twofold: One is United Nations Resolution 242, and secondly, the Camp David accords, which have become almost like a bible between Israel and Egypt as we get into these detailed negotiations.

As you know, there is a sharp difference of opinion now between Israel and Egypt about how rapidly to move forward on full autonomy, a common commitment; how rapidly to move forward on the withdrawal of the Israeli forces, military forces, and the administrative government there; how to set up the security locations on the West Bank to protect Israel from external aggression; and how to deal with water rights, how to deal with land rights. These kinds of things are extremely hard to resolve, but we are down to what you might call the nitty gritty now. The issues have been clearly defined.

Lately there's been a sharp difference of opinion evolved within the Government of Israel, and we are waiting now for Israel and Egypt to get back together. We're very eager to see this done. My prediction to you is that without very much more delay we will be back at the negotiating table, making progress again toward a Mideast peace treaty on that basis, and full autonomy for the West Bank, Gaza.

As far as the European nations are concerned, they have the same hope that we do: that the issue of autonomy on the West Bank, the resolution of the Palestinian problem, the provision of security for Israel, a permanent peace in the Middle East, comprehensively negotiated with Israel's neighbors—we have the same goals. I don't believe that the Europeans will make any move within the next couple of weeks.

MR. SCHORR. You don't?

THE PRESIDENT. No.

MR. SCHORR. They're meeting in Venice.

THE PRESIDENT. We will all meet in Venice, seven of us, the last part of June, June 22. The European Community members will meet, I think, the 12th or 13th of June. There will certainly, almost certainly, be no action by them before that date. We are encouraging the European allies not to intervene in the negotiations as long as we are meeting and are making progress toward a Mideast peace settlement.

I can't control them. They obviously have opinions of their own. That's been proven many times. Neither can I control Israel and Egypt. We have a conciliatory role to play and an intermediary role to play. We keep the talks going. Both nations depend on us. And to the extent that they trust me and trust our Nation's inclinations and commitments toward peace and toward fairness, to that extent we'll have the prospect of success.

So, to summarize: We have a good basis; the issues are clearly defined; Israel and Egypt both want a peace settlement. We are asking the European allies not to get involved in it for the time being.

MR. SCHORR. Have they agreed not to?

THE PRESIDENT. I don't believe they'll do it for the next couple of weeks, which I believe will be enough time to get us back at the bargaining table. And even if they do come in, we will not permit in the United Nations any action that would destroy the sanctity of and the present form of U.N. 242.

MR. SCHORR. You've got a firm grip now on what happens in the United Nations?

THE PRESIDENT. Well, we've got a veto power that we can exercise, if necessary, to prevent this Camp David process from being destroyed or subverted, and I would not hesitate to use it if necessary.