U.S. Secretary of State James Baker was due back in Israel on Tuesday, after a whirlwind tour of Arab capitals. But he may have little to show for his efforts.
Reports reaching here Monday evening confirmed that neither Saudi Arabia nor Kuwait would attend a proposed regional peace conference with Israel. They believe only the “frontline Arab states” bordering Israel should participate.
Baker, who left Jerusalem on Saturday, after apparently unproductive talks with Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, also got little encouragement in Jordan or Syria.
Shamir, meanwhile, was being importuned by his right-wing coalition partners to make no concessions on land-for-peace, settlement building or the composition of the proposed conference, whatever pressure the United States might apply.
The prime minister’s widely publicized meetings Monday with leaders of the Tehiya party and with hard-liners of the Likud Knesset faction allow Shamir to claim, in response to appeals by Baker for more flexibility, that his hands are tied, political observers said.
But they believe that Tehiya, which controls three Knesset seats, is serious about quitting the coalition should the prime minister show signs of wavering.
Nevertheless, there were hints here that Shamir might relent on his objection to a European Community role in the regional peace conference, though under no circumstances would he agree to the inclusion of East Jerusalem Arabs in the Palestinian negotiating delegation.
TALK OF REVIVING UNITY GOVERNMENT
Some observers suggested the nervousness in Israel’s right wing was a reaction to persistent signaling from the center of the opposition Labor Party to revive the old Labor-Likud unity government.
The signals are coming from former Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who seems to be Labor’s strongman even though Shimon Peres remains, nominally, the party’s chairman.
Rabin has recently observed publicly that the old unity government was closer to a breakthrough on the peace process than the present Likud-led regime is or ever could be, given the positions of its right wing.
Baker was in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait on Monday. While the Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, agreed the time has come for a comprehensive peace settlement in the Middle East, including a resolution of the Palestinian question, the sheikdom does not want to take part in the proposed regional conference.
But according to reports reaching here, the Saudis might consider participation in regional discussions on such issues as disarmament, water and ecology that could take place in tandem with talks between Israelis and Arabs.
Jordan’s foreign minister, Taher al-Masri, said in Amman on Monday that his country insists that any Arab-Israeli peace must be based on Israel’s total withdrawal from “occupied lands” and that the Palestinians must speak for themselves.
Baker was greeted in Damascus with editorials in government-controlled newspapers saying a peace settlement was impossible without Israel’s complete withdrawal from Arab lands.
In Tunis, Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat criticized Baker’s peace conference proposals but stopped short of rejecting them outright, Arab sources said.
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