Levy-baker Meeting Postponed As Persian Gulf Takes Precedence

Secretary of State James Baker has postponed a meeting planned for Thursday with Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy, and instead will visit Turkey to discuss further strategy in dealing with Iraq.

The meeting has been rescheduled for Sept. 6 or 7, State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler announced Monday.

But Tutwiler said the Iraqi invasion “doesn’t alter” U.S. hopes for Israeli acquiescence to U.S. proposals for holding Israel-Palestinian talks in Cairo, in order to discuss possible elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Oded Eran, Israel’s deputy ambassador here, said he was not surprised by the State Department’s continuing interest in such a meeting. “I don’t think (the Iraqi invasion) changes very drastically the U.S. position on this issue,” Eran said.

Ever since Iraq’s invasion last week of neighboring Kuwait, government officials in Israel have been saying how the event would sharply reduce U.S. pressure on Israel to start a dialogue with Palestinians in Cairo.

However, Eran said, “They will continue to work on the same issues that were at the center of the dialogue between Israel and the United States.”

Tutwiler said the invasion “underscores” the need for all countries in the Middle East to achieve peace. Peace between Israel and Arab countries would provide “another way to counter Saddam Hussein’s objectives in the area,” Tutwiler argued.

Eran agreed with political analysts who are calling Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak a loser in Iraq’s display of power. “I’m sure that he is,” he said, indicating it would hurt Mubarak’s ability to gain support among Arab states for a more diplomatic posture toward Israel.

The postponement follows an earlier one of a planned Baker-Levy meeting in Paris that was put off because of Levy’s recuperation from heart ailments.

Eran said the Iraqi invasion “underlies the dangers that we saw long ago” in Hussein as a threat to other countries in the region.

He did not rule out any Israeli military support, such as use of air bases, for U.S. forces being deployed in the region and added, “The U.S. knows we are there, and if they need anything, we are there.”

In another development Monday, Iraq rounded up 28 U.S. citizens from three Kuwaiti hotels and placed them on buses, Tutwiler confirmed. There were also reports of hundreds of other foreign nationals being taken by Iraq from Kuwait. But Tutwiler refused to call the 28 Americans “hostages,” saying it was unclear what Iraq was going to do to them.

U.S., British and French warships have taken up positions in the surrounding Mediterranean, Arabian and Red Seas to enforce a blockade of any Iraqi oil shipments attempted through Turkey and Saudi Arabia, the Washington Post reported.

The biggest immediate help in sanctions against Iraq that the United States can receive is a halt in the flow of Iraqi oil through a Turkish pipeline.

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney arrived in Saudi Arabia on Monday not only to help prepare against any Iraqi invasion but to gain Saudi support as well for closing down its oil pipeline from Iraq.