Carter Says Syria, Jordan Both Ready to Talk Peace with Israel Within International Framework

Former President Jimmy Carter arrived in Israel Thursday saying he was convinced that the leaders of Syria and Jordan would join direct peace talks with Israel held within the framework of an international peace conference.

Meeting with Vice Premier and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres shortly after reaching Jerusalem by the Allenby Bridge from Jordan, Carter said that President Hafez Assad of Syria understood that an international conference was the next stage toward direct negotiations.

He said that King Hussein of Jordan wanted to advance the peace process and held “flexible views,” but was unable to move forward in the absence of an international forum. According to Carter, Assad regards Jordan as “a leading force in the peace process.” Carter said that in his own view, Syria, too, has an important role in the process.

Carter’s visit to Israel, his first since 1983, is the final leg of a tour that took him to Algeria, Egypt, Syria and Jordan. The former President stressed repeatedly here and in the Arab capitals that his visit was private and the views he expressed were his own. He made clear he is not representing the U.S.

He made several statements in the course of his journey on the need to include the Palestine Liberation Organization in an international conference.

EIGHTH ANNIVERSARY OF TREATY

Carter’s arrival in Israel coincided with the eighth anniversary of the signing of the Israel-Egyptian peace treaty on March 26, 1979 at a White House ceremony. The signatories were then Israeli Premier Menachem Begin and the late President Anwar Sadat of Egypt. Carter engineered the treaty.

Carter asked for a meeting with Begin, who has been living in seclusion at his suburban Jerusalem home since he resigned from office in August 1983. According to Begin’s spokesman, Yechiel Kadishai, the 73-year-old former Premier said “that he can’t see him, that’s all. He didn’t give any reason.” Begin and Carter last met during Carter’s 1983 visit.

Carter told reporters Thursday that one of the lessons of Camp David, at which Egypt, Israel and the U.S. talked was that one should not stick to any single specific formula in pursuing peace and that it is time to advance to a new stage. He said that would seem to be an international conference.

He said his visit to Israel was to raise questions and float ideas for Israeli leaders, as a private citizen. He added that he had never succeeded in convincing Israelis “or anyone else” to do what they did not want to do.

Asked why the peace process had not advanced after Camp David, Carter said “Perhaps there is more I could have done, but I don’t think that in the last six years (the tenure of the Reagan Administration) it has been as high a priority as it has been with me, when it was almost an obsession.”

Carter expressed hope nevertheless that the last two years of the Reagan Administration would see the Middle East peace process become a greater priority.

The Reagan Administration sharply criticized Carter for a remark before the American Chamber of Commerce in Cairo last week that there was “missing leadership” in Washington. “President Reagan has not been inclined to use negotiation and diplomacy as a means to achieve our nation’s goals as have his Democratic and Republican predecessors. He’s more inclined to exert America’s military strength, either the actual use of it or the threat of it,” Carter said.

Those remarks brought an angry response from White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater last Friday. He said the Administration was “deeply disappointed” that Carter would make such a statement on the “very delicate” Mideast peace process while in a foreign country. “It is not right to say we have not been pursuing the peace process in the Middle East,” Fitzwater said.

State Department spokesman Charles Redman declared that “This Administration has remained actively involved in the peace process and is deeply committed to it.”

MEETS WITH ASSAD, HUSSEIN

Carter met with Assad in Damascus for three-and-a-half hours Sunday, according to Syria’s official news agency, Sana, discussing “issues relating to the international situation, the Middle East and Lebanon.”

Carter arrived in Jordan Tuesday asserting that “As long as the parties stay flexible and listen to contrary views, the hope for a (international) conference is kept alive.” He met with King Hussein and Crown Prince Hassan. Also, while in Amman, Carter called for the release of prisoners in Israel and hostages in Lebanon. “All those being held on both sides, unless being guilty of some crime, should be released,” he said.

In Jerusalem Thursday, Carter said he had no word on any possible progress on the hostage issue in Lebanon. He expressed hope that with the deployment of Syrian armed forces in west Beirut, progress would be made toward the release of hostages.