NEW YORK: US President Gerald Ford plans to ask Congress for a sweeping joint resolution on Israel dealing with the Zionist State`s security, supply of US arms and the inviolability of borders in the Middle East ... `Newsweek` said yesterday [Aug 17]. According to the magazine, the proposal for Congressional action goes far beyond mere approval of the stationing of US technicians in the Sinai to man an early-warning system.

Diplomatic sources have said the technicians may form part of an interim peace agreement between Egypt and Israel... .

`Newsweek` said Mr Ford`s proposed joint resolution `would (1) formally state for the first time the long-understood US guarantee of Israel`s security, (2) declare the inviolability of borders in the Middle East, and (3) pledge that the US will provide Israel with the necessary weaponry for its defence`.

[News agencies in Damascus add,] the PLO ... rejected in advance a new Sinai disengagement agreement between Egypt and Israel now considered highly likely after American mediation. An agreement would hit the Palestinian cause and divide Arab ranks, the PLO Executive Committee said... .