U.S. Secretary of State James Baker’s postponement of a return visit to Jerusalem until later this week touched off a flurry of anxiety in government circles here, symptomatic of the tense state of U.S.-Israeli relations.
Baker, who left Israel on Saturday, originally planned to return here Tuesday evening after visiting Arab capitals in his third round of shuttle diplomacy since mid-March.
Instead, the secretary decided to stay overnight in Damascus and fly Wednesday to the Caucasus resort town of Kislovodsk for a meeting Thursday with Soviet Foreign Minister Alexander Bessmertnykh.
The sudden change of plans, announced by State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler, who is traveling with the secretary, raised speculation that a U.S.-Soviet agreement to jointly sponsor a regional peace conference might be imminent.
But in Jerusalem, some officials immediately interpreted the change in itinerary as a signal of Washington’s wrath over Israel’s continued construction of settlements in the administered territories and its refusal to make concessions on the modalities of a peace conference.
Israelis are more nervous than they were during Baker’s two previous visits to the region. There is a growing feeling here that the “heat” is on Israel.
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir has tried to convince his right-wing coalition partners and militant settler groups that he will not yield to pressure on land-for-peace, settlement building or the nature of the proposed conference.
WILL NOT YIELD ON SETTLEMENTS
But there have been indications that he is prepared to consider some sort of peace conference role for the European Community, whose inclusion Israel has until now opposed.
Shamir may even be ready, sources say, to consider a conference that is more than a ceremonial prelude to bilateral talks and does not have to permanently adjourn when the talks begin.
But the Likud prime minister apparently will not relent on the issue of who will represent the Palestinians in peace talks. He will not agree to Arab representation from East Jerusalem.
Shamir also is not expected to- yield on the issue of settlements, given the strength of the settlement lobby in Likud circles.
American sources cited in news reports here Tuesday claimed that Saudi Arabia had been prepared to participate in a regional peace conference with Israel, but backed off after settlers established the West Bank settlement of Revava last week, on the eve of Baker’s visit. The Saudis will not risk similar embarrassment in the future, the sources said.
But the same reports said Baker secured solid Saudi and Kuwaiti backing for the proposed conference and was now working on Syrian support.
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