Secretary of State George Shultz said Thursday he would like to have “a broader and better dialogue” with the Palestinians, but flatly rejected any contact with the Palestine Liberation Organization until it meets conditions long established by the United States.
Shultz spoke before leaving Brussels to resume his Middle East shuttle diplomacy. He is due in Israel Thursday night. But he stopped off in London for a second meeting with King Hussein of Jordan.
They conferred for two hours Asked by reporters in the British capital how the talks had gone, the secretary of state replied, “You can all see, I am smiling.”
Apparently Shultz is more optimistic than he was after his three-hour meeting with the Jordanian ruler in London on Tuesday, before he came to Brussels.
Shultz is attempting to gain Arab and Israeli acceptance of his peace package, which calls for early implementation of interim autonomy arrangements for Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to be followed by an international forum of some kind and then Arab-Israeli negotiations over the permanent status of the territories.
JORDAN IS KEY FACTOR
Jordan is a key factor in this plan, but Hussein appears to have avoided any commitment at his first meeting with Shultz. Whether he was more forthcoming at their second get-together remains to be seen.
Shultz, who joined President Reagan at the two-day NATO summit conference here, briefed the president on the status of his Middle East mission and was directed by Reagan to return to the region for another try.
At a news conference here, Shultz reiterated the U.S. policy of refusing to have any contact with the PLO unless it renounces terrorism, accepts Israel’s right to exist and accepts U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.
WON’T MEET WITH PALESTINIANS
He said he favors contacts with non-PLO Palestinians, but “sees no way” to fit in such a meeting during his Middle East efforts this weekend. He will be meeting with Israeli Premier Yitzhak Shamir and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Jerusalem Friday before flying to Amman and Cairo. He is due to return to Washington Sunday night.
American sources said Shultz would not be looking for any “grand public gesture” during his second foray into the Middle East in less than a week, but would try to prepare common ground on which the parties to the conflict could work out a solution among themselves.
The sources also said Shultz hopes to obtain approval for a formula, vague at present, that could bring Arabs and Israelis into direct negotiations “within weeks.”
(London correspondent Maurice Samuelson 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.
