The Reagan Administration seems to be in a quandary about what to do next in the Middle East peace process now that King Hussein of Jordan has abandoned his effort to work out a common strategy with Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat.
“It is obvious that we have embarked upon a period of reflection on the part of all parties,” State Department deputy spokesman Charles Redman said last week.
But Redman would not say where this reflection would lead, except to stress that both Hussein and Israel are still committed to seek peace. “We intend to continue our efforts to help the parties advance toward our shared goal of direct negotiations for a just, durable and lasting peace in the Middle East,” he said.
Hussein announced in a three-and-a-half hour speech on television last Wednesday that he was abandoning his year-long effort to work with the PLO leadership “until such time as their word becomes their bond, characterized by commitment, credibility and constancy.”
Redman agreed with the King in placing the blame on the PLO. “The record is clear that the PLO leadership has failed to seize the opportunity offered it, and all parties have to find another basis to move toward the undiminished imperative of a negotiated peace, including a resolution of the Palestinian problem,” he said.
U.S. AGREED TO INVITE THE PLO TO A CONFERENCE
Redman confirmed Hussein’s revelation that the U.S. had agreed to invite the PLO to an international conference if the PLO accepted United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, agreed to negotiate with Israel and renounced terrorism.
Redman would not comment on whether the U.S. had informed Israel of this proposal. Israel refuses to deal with the PLO under any circumstances. However, the conditions listed have long been laid down by the U.S. for it to talk to the PLO. Hussein’s speech, however, was welcomed in Israel where Israeli officials both in Labor and Likud have denounced the effort by Jordan to work with the PLO The Israelis have called for direct negotiations with Jordan with the participation of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza.
However, Hussein in his speech said the U.S. proposed this to him last month and he rejected it. Hussein, who wanted an international conference as an “umbrella” for negotiations with Israel. The U.S. has maintained that it will support an international conference only if it leads to direct negotiations and not as a substitute for it.
FOCUS MAY RETURN FULL CIRCLE
Now that Hussein has dropped the PLO, at least for the time being, the focus may return to where it should have been all along, on direct talks between Israel and a delegation comprising Jordanians and Palestinians from Judaea, Samaria and Gaza.
Secretary of State George Shultz has repeatedly said that there are Palestinians who realize that the way to find a solution to their problem is through negotiations.
The first reaction from the West Bank has not been positive, with Palestinians maintaining, at least publicly, that there is no alternative to the PLO.
But if progress is to be made, the Palestinians will have to take the choice offered them by Premier Shimon Peres during his address to the World Jewish Congress in Jerusalem last month. “They have to make a choice between the PLO without a solution or a solution without the PLO, “Peres said.
This advice should be heeded not only by the Palestinians, but also by Washington and Amman.
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