The upcoming visit by U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher is a clear and welcome signal that solving the region’s conflicts is a top priority of the new U.S. administration, Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin said Wednesday.
At the same time, Beilin played down expectations that the visit would yield new peace proposals or any other concrete results.
He said it is important, however, that Israel convince the Clinton administration that “the longest conflict since World War II is soluble” and that Israel is committed to a solution.
Christopher was scheduled to leave Washington on Wednesday night for Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, possibly Lebanon and Israel, where he is scheduled to arrive Monday.
The secretary, too, has played down expectations, describing his mission as a “fact-finding trip.”
In a special briefing for reporters, Beilin stressed the visit is a much-needed demonstration of U.S. involvement in the peace process.
“It is vital we’re talking directly with our neighbors,” said Beilin, “but there won’t be peace without the involvement of the American administration.”
“The mere fact of his coming,” said Beilin, “is very, very important to accelerate the peace process.”
But Beilin cautioned there are limits to a constructive U.S. role. “It doesn’t mean twisting arms, neither the Arabs’ nor ours,” he said.
He said no pressure need be placed on Israel. “We are committed to peace and ready to pay the price, and we know the price is a territorial one,” he said.
HOPES TO ‘SIGN TREATIES THIS YEAR’
But he conceded it would be very important for Israel to convince the administration it is willing to “solve the conflict after so many years.”
Beilin refused to predict whether dates would be set for the resumption of peace talks at the conclusion of Christopher’s visit, calling that “technical and secondary.”
He also refused to be pinned down in the wake of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s admission Tuesday that he had been overly optimistic when he had estimated the initial phase of the peace process could be concluded within nine months.
Beilin said it would be “a mistake to set a new threshold,” but “we will do whatever possible in the framework of the security needs of Israel” to advance the peace process and “sign treaties this year.”
“If we don’t it will only be because the other side didn’t respond,” he said.
Next week’s visit is expected to strengthen the warm relations that have begun to develop between Israel and the new administration.
Its significance is heightened by the uneasiness that had been expressed over the Christopher appointment by some American Jews and by the successful orchestration of a compromise in the crisis over the Palestinians Israel deported to Lebanon in December.
For his part, Beilin seemed to signal ambivalence over the deportations. He said the decision “wasn’t a very easy one” and that Israel had “paid the price” in the international community.
Beilin called it “premature to judge” its effect on the fight against extremists. And, while he said it was not carried out “as part of ongoing policy,” he said Israel could offer no guarantees it would not happen again.
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