Secretary of State William Rogers said in Washington on Friday (12 March) that one of the best ways to provide security in the Middle East would be the creation of a United Nations peace-keeping force for areas like the Sinai. Desert. Arrangements for the force should provide that it could not be withdrawn arbitrarily - an apparent reference to Israeli fears of a repetition of the pull-out of the previous U.N. Middle East force just before the start of the Six-Day War in 1967.

Senator William Fulbright, chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, commented on the Soviet Union's willingness to participate in such a peace-keeping operation.