The United States and Israel are hard at work on a letter of understanding between the two nations that would assure the Israelis of no surprises in terms of the Palestinian participants in the upcoming Middle East peace conference.
In a meeting here Wednesday with Secretary of State James Baker, Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy emphasized that the Israelis did not want any conference invitations to go out without prior knowledge on their part of all the essential details — particularly with regard to any Palestinian delegation.
Among the details to be agreed upon are the choice of Palestinian representatives and the conference site.
Levy said that Baker understood the Israeli terms and assured him that there would be no “surprises” relating to the Palestinians.
Both sides characterized the meeting as positive and substantive, despite the friction between the two nations over Israel’s request for U.S. guarantees covering $10 billion in immigrant resettlement loans.
The two leaders touched on the sensitive issue only briefly in their 90-minute meeting, which dealt primarily with the particulars surrounding the peace conference.
“We talked about the importance of moving forward with the peace process and particularly the prospect of having Arab governments sit down face to face in direct negotiations with Israel,” Baker said.
“I would hope we will soon receive a response from the Palestinians that they want to go to the peace conference and engage in negotiations with Israel,” he said.
The Palestine National Council has not yet decided whether to authorize Palestinians from the administered territories to form a joint delegation with Jordan.
Levy said he and Baker may have a follow-up meeting on the subject, either in the United States or Israel. Baker was scheduled to meet later Wednesday with the foreign ministers of Jordan and three Persian Gulf states.
Baker and Levy also touched base on the 1975 U.N. General Assembly resolution branding Zionism as racism. The two countries have been working together toward rescinding the resolution since 1989, and President Bush called for its repeal in his General Assembly speech Monday.
In their meeting Wednesday, Levy said Baker told him that the United States and Israel would work jointly on the appropriate timing of such a resolution. Bush did not suggest a deadline in his General Assembly speech.
The Israelis have long said that they will not risk bringing a resolution to the floor without assurances of a comfortable majority of votes in their favor.
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