U.S. Confident on Europeans Being in the Sinai Force, Jan. 21, 1982.

The State Department said today it was “confident” that four West European countries would be members of the Sinai peacekeeping force when Israel makes its final withdrawal from the Sinai in April.

Britain, France, Italy and The Netherlands “are committed to participation” in the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), Department deputy spokesman Alan Romberg said. “And while there are still some areas of disagreement as to the terms of participation, we expect those disappearances to be worked out in the very near future.”

Secretary of State Alexander Haig, while in Jerusalem last week, reportedly urged Israel to accept the European letter, although he is said to have conceded that it did not go as far as Israel wants. Israel does not want participation in the MFO to be linked to anything but the Camp David process and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.