A Meeting Between Peres and Shevardnadze is Almost Certain

A meeting between Israeli Premier Shimon Peres and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze appears almost certain, Peres’ press spokesman Uri Savir said Sunday. He said final confirmation was expected from Soviet officials and the meeting would be held Monday at the United Nations, following President Reagan’s address to the General Assembly.

Peres had earlier postponed his departure from New York until Monday because of the possibility of a meeting with Shevardnadze. The Israeli leader, who was in Washington and Canada last week, returned to New York Thursday for a series of meetings with Jewish community leaders, religious leaders and city and state government officials.

He stressed at these various meetings that he hoped the Soviet Union would restore diplomatic relations with Israel as a condition for Soviet participation in any international conference on Middle East peace.

PERES HAS MEETING WITH DE CUELLAR

Peres lunched with United Nations Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar Saturday. They discussed a report to the UN Security Council last week that blamed “Israel’s refusal to withdraw completely from the territory occupied during its invasion of Lebanon in 1982” for the recent attacks on units of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in which four French and one Irish soldiers were killed.

The reference was to the south Lebanon security zone where Israeli troops continue to patrol along with the Israel-backed South Lebanon Army (SLA). According to Savir, de Cuellar assured Peres that he does not blame Israel for events in south Lebanon. The attacks on the UNIFIL contingents were believed carried out by Shiite Moslem extremists.

De Cuellar later repeated in an interview with Israel Radio that he does not hold Israel to blame for the attacks on UNIFIL troops. (See separate story.)

In the course of their conversation, Peres told the Secretary General that Israel had not asked for UNIFIL, which has been patrolling in south Lebanon for the past eight years, and would not object if the UN decided to withdraw its peacekeeping force from that country. At the same time he said he thought UNIFIL contributed toward restoring stability in Lebanon.

Peres also met with former President Nixon here Saturday to discuss the Middle East peace process. On Friday he had a meeting here with John Cardinal O’Connor, the Archbishop of New York, at the latter’s residence. O’Connor accepted a formal invitation to visit Israel which the Israel government issued last month. He said he was “thrilled” by the prospect but could not set a date.

O’Connor, who visited Lebanon in June, said after his return that he favored the creation of a Palestinian homeland. Peres, who stood beside O’Connor during an impromptu news conference Friday, said the Archbishop would “be more than welcome to our country as a guest of our government.” He added this would give the prelate a chance to see the other side of the Middle East picture.

The Israeli Premier, who will switch jobs next month with Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir under the Labor-Likud rotation of power agreement, spent the bulk of his busy weekend here meeting with Jewish community leaders and American Jewish youth groups. His most important concerns, he told them, were freedom for Soviet Jewry, cooperation between nations against international terrorism and the Middle East peace process.

He spoke of his recent visit to Washington and his talks with President Reagan, Secretary of State George Shultz and other top Administration figures as well as with leaders of the Senate and the House.

THE USSR AND THE MIDEAST

With respect to Middle East peace, Peres said he believed the Soviet Union would want to play a role in the process in order to gain influence in the region equal to that of the U.S. He said three Arab countries — Egypt, Jordan and Morocco — favor direct negotiations with Israel under an international umbrella.

Some Arab states are pressing the Soviet Union to renew diplomatic ties with Israel so that an international conference can materialize. Peres said he would prefer direct negotiations with the Arabs, without preconditions or an international framework, stressing that no international forum could replace direct talks.

He said that at his meetings in Washington he had proposed an international alliance to fight terrorism by sharing intelligence and strategic planning. He made the same proposal to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney of Canada last week and was told by Mulroney that Canada would be disposed to join such an alliance. Peres also urged striking at the roots of international terrorism by hitting their military bases and financial sources.

JEWISH LEADERS PLEDGE TO VISIT ISRAEL

Peres addressed a meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations here Friday. The leaders of the 60 Jewish religious and secular organizations pledged that they would personally visit Jerusalem this year to demonstrate their unity and support for Israel. They also promised to encourage the members of the organizations they head to do the same during the upcoming High Holidays.