Secretary of State George Shultz, with a strong boost from President Reagan, will resume his Middle East shuttle diplomacy at the end of this week, it was announced here Wednesday evening.
“I have directed Secretary Shultz to return to the Middle East tomorrow (Thursday) to continue his discussions,” Reagan said Wednesday night. He is attending the NATO summit conference. The president said that “during my meetings in Brussels I have kept a close watch on the situation in the Middle East. Secretary Shultz briefed me fully on his negotiating efforts and it is clear that all countries in the region believe it is useful for the United States to remain engaged in this process. We’ll spare no effort in our search for a comprehensive peace settlement.”
Shultz will fly to Israel Thursday evening and is scheduled to meet Friday with Premier Yitzhak Shamir and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. He will fly to Amman, Jordan and to Cairo on Saturday or Sunday for another meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. He is scheduled to return to Washington Sunday evening.
But before leaving for the Middle East, the top American diplomat is expected to return to London for another meeting with King Hussein of Jordan. The two conferred there for three hours on Tuesday.
Asked after the president’s statement whether he will meet with a group of Palestinians who had refused to meet with him in Israel last weekend, Shultz refused to comment. Observers interpreted his silence as meaning that such a meeting, which Egyptian sources said Tuesday would take place in Cairo, is not altogether ruled out, but is highly improbable.
White House press spokesman Marlin Fitzwater told a news conference here that the president “feels we should give it another try.”
An American source said the secretary’s return to the Middle East is “the continuation of his previous trip, which was only briefly interrupted for his two-day stay in Brussels to attend the NATO summit meeting.”
Shultz was in the Middle East from Feb. 26 to 29. Using Jerusalem as his base, he flew to Damascus and Cairo and twice to Amman in an effort to gain support for his peace proposals.
He left Israel Tuesday morning for London, where he conferred with Hussein, who was absent from Jordan during Shultz’s stay in the region. Shultz arrived in Brussels Tuesday night.
American officials here said Shultz’s session with Hussein “did not open any doors, but neither did it lock any,” and an additional effort is needed.
But the officials seemed to feel that the outcome of Shultz’s mission will be evident only after Israeli Premier Yitzhak Shamir’s official visit to Washington, which will begin March 14. Shamir will meet with Reagan at the White House on March 16.
(JTA London correspondent Maurice Samuelson contributed to this report.)
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