Secretary of State George Shultz will use Jerusalem as a base for shuttle diplomacy to present the new American peace plan to Israeli and Arab leadership, according to a report in Al Hamishmar Tuesday.
But Shultz may discover upon his arrival in Jerusalem, scheduled for Thursday, that his most formidable task will be to mediate between Premier Yitzhak Shamir, leader of the Likud faction, and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, the Labor Party leader. They remain deadlocked over the American proposals, the newspaper indicated.
Shamir reportedly told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee in closed session Monday that he is prepared to break up the Labor-Likud unity coalition government and call for early elections if Labor “makes trouble” during Shultz’s visit.
Davar, the Labor Party newspaper, said Tuesday that Labor ministers have also made clear they are willing to dismantle the coalition if Likud attempts to thwart Shultz’s initiative.
The U.S. secretary of state, who stopped in Brussels Tuesday, seemed unfazed though decreasingly optimistic about his Middle East mission. He acknowledged “there is everywhere intense skepticism” of his chances to achieve a breakthrough.
“I don’t think many people give me much chance,” but “we have a few ideas and the engagement of the U.S. in the Mideast on an intense basis is welcomed,” Shultz said at a news conference.
Al Hamishmar, organ of the Mapam Party, reported Tuesday that Shultz’s schedule in the region calls for daytime visits “to an Arab capital” and returning to Jerusalem at night.
Each evening he is scheduled for two separate meetings — one with Shamir and his staff, the other with Peres and his staff. This is subject to change only if the two coalition partners succeed in formulating a joint position, Al Hamishmar said.
Shultz’s meetings will begin in Jerusalem Friday morning with Shamir, followed by a session with Peres. He is also scheduled to dine with Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin Friday night and meet later with relatives of Soviet Jews who have been refused exit visas.
TWO LETTERS REPORTEDLY PROPOSED
Haaretz reported Tuesday that Shultz “is proposing two letters documenting Washington’s commitments to Israel and Jordan, respectively.”
The letter to Amman would commit the United States to the principle of exchanging territory for peace, a feature of the initiative announced by President Reagan on Sept. 1, 1982 and subsequently shelved after it was rejected by the Likud-led government of Premier Menachem Begin.
The Reagan plan also proposed a Jordanian-Palestinian confederation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The American commitment to Israel would stress secure borders without a return to the pre-June 1967 boundaries, assurances that there will be no Palestinian state and that Jerusalem will remain a unified city.
Haaretz said the Reagan administration might seek congressional approval of both commitments to allay fears they may be repudiated by the next administration.
AI Hamishmar said Tuesday that Shultz may have been prompted to undertake his peace initiative by a letter he received from Shamir last month that indicated the Likud leader had softened his position significantly.
The newspaper quoted portions of the seven-page letter, dated Jan. 17, 1988, which it said Shamir wrote under pressure of events in the administered territories. Shultz’s impression reportedly was that a fundamental change had taken place in Shamir’s thinking that could lead to fullscale negotiations.
In one part of the letter quoted by AI Hamishmar, the premier blamed King Hussein of Jordan for refusing to consider the question of sovereignty in the Israeli-administered territories “an issue for negotiations.”
Elsewhere in the letter, Shamir proposed handling the Palestinian refugee problem through international aid for construction and rehabilitation projects; Israel granting full autonomy to the residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, except in the areas of security and foreign policy; and Israel entering into a permanent settlement after autonomy is implemented as defined by the 1978 Camp David accords.
But according to AI Hamishmar, when the contents of the letter reached Likud-Herut ministers Ariel Sharon and David Levy, they attacked Shamir for going soft and forced him to retract the positions he outlined to Shultz.
Shamir said Monday he was interested in reaching a common position with the Labor Party based on the founding agreements of the unity government in 1984. But he said he was not “deluding himself” that such an accord could in fact be reached.
He said he would support Knesset elections in July or August. They are presently scheduled for early December, when the coalition government’s term expires. Labor Party ministers want elections as early as May or June. Davar said this was because many Labor Party voters will be vacationing abroad in August.
Meanwhile, Shultz said in Brussels Tuesday that he had thorough discussions in Moscow this week with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze with respect to the Middle East peace process.
He was in Brussels to brief America’s NATO allies on his talks in Moscow.
MAY MEET WITH PALESTINIANS
Israeli newspapers reported that Shultz has left a “time slot” open during his Israel visit for meetings with key Palestinian leaders from the territories.
The Americans believe the violent situation in the territories will convince Jordan to support the U.S. plan. Amman’s major demand is that autonomy will not result in the Israeli version of a permanent settlement.
(JTA Brussels correspondent Yossi Lempkowitz contributed to this report.)
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.
