Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin appears to have succeeded in resisting pressure to make further concessions to the Palestinians without torpedoing the prospects for a resumption of the Middle East peace talks next week.
Rabin and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak emerged from a summit meeting Wednesday in the Egyptian city of Ismailia saying they were hopeful the Palestinians would return to the negotiating table as scheduled next Tuesday in Washington.
Mubarak had been expected to press Rabin to make further concessions on such issues as the return of some 400 Palestinians whom Israel deported to Lebanon four months ago.
But instead the two leaders apparently discussed “Arab expectations” of Israel, and the Egyptian leader appeared to accept Rabin’s statement that no further concessions would be made until the peace talks resume.
The only sign of a new development in the Israeli position was Rabin’s confirmation of recent media reports that Israel might accept Faisal Husseini as official head of the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks.
But even on that issue, the prime minister said Israel would have nothing to say until it is sure the Palestinians want him to head the delegation. There have been reports of divisions in the Palestinian camp over this issue.
Husseini is currently chief adviser to the team, having been banned by the former Likud-led government from direct participation because he is a resident of eastern Jerusalem.
Mubarak reportedly discussed the issue when he met Tuesday with Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat and Husseini.
With the flurry of diplomatic activity, Mu- barak has sought to demonstrate that his role, as the leader of the only Arab country at peace with Israel, is indispensable — and therefore proof to Washington that its multibillion dollar aid package to Egypt is money well spent.
During the summit meeting Wednesday, the Egyptian leader also assured Rabin that Syrian President Hafez Assad is ready for a full and comprehensive peace. Repeating a phrase he used during his visit last week to Washington, Mubarak said Assad told him he is willing to give “everything for everything.”
Rabin was less enthusiastic, saying he wanted to hear those words directly from Assad.
EGYPT SENDING DELEGATION TO ISRAEL
The proof of how successful the Egyptian mediation effort has been will come on Tuesday, when Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinians are scheduled to return to Washington for a new round of peace negotiations with Israel.
Mubarak expressed “strong hope” Wednesday that the Palestinians would indeed show up. But he said a formal decision on Palestinian participation would not be made until Arab foreign ministers meet in Damascus this weekend.
In Washington, meanwhile, Assistant Secretary of State Edward Djerejian continued consultations Wednesday with representatives of the various parties to the peace talks.
In his comments on the possibility of Husseini heading the Palestinian delegation, Rabin emphasized that an Israeli agreement to this move would not amount to a departure from the guidelines negotiated before the first round of the Middle East peace talks opened in Madrid in October 1991.
The Likud-led Israeli government at the time had objected to the participation of Jerusalem residents in the Palestinian delegation, fearing that it would compromise Israel’s stance that the status of a united Jerusalem under Israeli sovereignty is not negotiable.
Rabin said Wednesday that Israel would not be changing its position if it accepted Husseini, since the Palestinian leader also has a West Bank address.
In Washington, Israeli officials said accepting Husseini in the delegation should not be seen as a “sweetener” to encourage the Palestinians to return to the peace talks.
Instead, they suggested that Israel’s primary motivation for accepting Husseini would be to bolster the delegation’s authority in the eyes of the Palestinians, since Husseini is seen as a genuine West Bank leader. Israeli officials have complained that they are not sure the Palestinians they are negotiating with have the authority to speak for the Palestinian people.
Yet Rabin also said in Ismailia that he was waiting until the Palestinians themselves approved the idea. Recent newspaper reports here have said that Husseini’s direct participation in the Palestinian delegation could be a source of friction between him and Dr. Haidar Abdel-Shafi, the current head of the team.
Abdel-Shafi reportedly has taken a more hard-line approach than Husseini toward the return of the Palestinians deported to Lebanon.
Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi, however, has played down any difficulties that could occur, saying the two leaders would be able to work out any differences and sit together in the same delegation.
Meanwhile, one other outgrowth of the Ismailia talks Wednesday was Mubarak’s announcement that a large Egyptian delegation of 100 agricultural experts, officials, business leaders and journalists would come to Israel at the beginning of next month, to attend the opening of the Agritech exhibition.
Officials of Israel’s Agriculture Ministry expressed delight with this development, saying the delegation is an expression of the strong relations between the two countries.
(Contributing to this report was JTA correspondent Deborah Kalb of States News Service in Washington.)
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.
