Shamir Still Opposes a U.N. Role, Suggests Conference Without Syria

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir continues to oppose a role for the United Nations at a Middle East peace conference, despite a plea for flexibility from President Bush.

But the Likud leader still believes a peace conference can be convened, if necessary without Syria, a ranking Israeli government spokesman insisted Wednesday.

If Washington “reads carefully” the letter to Bush that Shamir is now drafting, it will see “that there is a lot to talk about,” according to Dr. Yossi Olmert, an Arab affairs expert who heads the Government Press Office.

“The letter will by no means close the doors,” he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Shamir is preparing a reply to a letter Bush sent him last weekend, asking him to reconsider a U.N. role at the Middle East peace conference U.S. Secretary of State James Baker has been trying to arrange since mid-March.

Olmert confirmed that Shamir still rejects a U.N. role, believing the organization is biased against Israel.

Nor has Shamir relented in his insistence that the conference adjourn permanently after its formal ceremonial opening session.

Those conditions are in sharp variance with demands by the Arab countries, especially Syria, for a conference with U.N. participation that would remain in session to help the parties over the hurdles of bilateral negotiations.

Olmert, voicing the government’s point of view, said if that were the scenario, there would be no bilateral talks, because the parties would simply wait for the United Nations to intervene.

Israel now appears to be suggesting that if Bush cannot resolve the Israeli-Syrian differences over procedure, the United States should consider convening peace talks without Syria.

“We say: if the Syrians don’t come, let us try to move toward negotiations with the other parties,” said Olmert.

He said the Americans seem “trapped” by their “misconception that without the Syrians there can be no progress.”

He pointed out that the Syrians also oppose a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation to represent the Palestinians in talks with Israel and are pressing Jordan to reject that option.