A senior State Department official arrived here Monday to hold talks with Premier Yitzhak Shamir and senior Israeli policy makers in an effort to convince Shamir to end his opposition to Foreign Minister Shimon Peres’ proposal for an international conference on Middle East peace.
The American envoy, Charles Hill, executive assistant to Secretary of State George Shultz, will discuss “the position of Israel’s government” to determine whether there is sufficient unity on the issue for some movement toward holding a conference.
According to Yosef Ben-Aharon, Director-General of Shamir’s office, Hill will find that there is much more uniting the government than dividing it on this issue. Both Likud and Labor are seeking to move the peace process forward, Ben-Aharon said. He noted that the differences between Shamir and Peres were “over the tactical approach, not the strategic goal.”
American sources were cited Monday as saying that Washington “will not be satisfied with a flat no from Shamir regarding the conference scenario.”
MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING MULLED
Both U.S. and Israeli sources have mentioned the idea of a memorandum of understanding to be drawn up between Washington and Jerusalem, largely dealing with strategic and military relationships between the two countries — which could serve as an inducement to Shamir to go along with the conference option.
Such a memorandum, the sources say, would be intended to enshrine for many years ahead the U.S. commitment to ensure Israel’s military superiority over its potential foes. Shultz is said to wish to conclude a memorandum of this nature in order to project the present Administration’s strong commitment to Israel’s security forward into the future. An example of such a memorandum is the 1975 accord signed between then-Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and then-Foreign Minister Yigal Allon in which the U.S. undertook not to negotiate with the PLO unless the organization accepted the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, recognized Israel, and desisted from terrorism.
In the Likud camp, however, there is no sign of softening of the party’s solid opposition to an international conference. Likud spokespersons continue to demand a mini-conference that would exclude the Soviets and the Syrians, or else direct talks with Jordan without any international umbrella.
Peres for his part insists that such ideas are inherently non-starters since the Arab side, and specifically Jordan, refuse to enter into talks without such an umbrella. By the same token, Peres maintains, an international opening conference would immediately lead to direct, bilateral talks — under an agreement which he, King Hussein of Jordan, and the U.S. Administration concluded in April.
That agreement is still unpublished, but it is widely reported to have been reached at a meeting between Peres and Hussein in London on April 11.
Peres said Sunday that despite the Likud’s stance on the eve of the talks with Hill — he accused Shamir of intransigence — “the last word has not yet been said” regarding an international conference.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
