Multilateral Talks on Arms Control End Current Round on Positive Note

The third round of multilateral talks on arms control in the Middle East ended here this week on a positive note, with Israeli and American officials calling the session very constructive.

The parties discussed ways of implementing a series of confidence-building measures that had been raised in the previous round in Moscow last September, the Israelis said.

Although there appeared to be progress in these arms control talks, the Palestinians’ chief negotiator in the bilateral talks, Haidar Abdel-Shafi, said in the Gaza Strip on Thursday that in his opinion all the Arab-Israeli peace talks should be suspended.

Abdel-Shafi accused the United States of supporting unreasonable Israeli positions and said Israel should declare that all lands captured in 1967, including East Jerusalem, would be considered “occupied” and not merely “disputed.”

Nevertheless, a number of decisions were taken at the multilateral arms control talks this week to continue discussions and planning between formal rounds.

“One of the ideas we went in with was to enhance communication among the parties,” said a State Department official. “One of the results has been just that — we have enhanced and increased contacts in the intersessional period.”

The arms control talks are considered to be among the more important of the several different multilateral working groups, which are often overshadowed by the higher-profile bilateral talks.

There were three general areas of confidence-building measures discussed at the talks this week, according to the Israelis.

First, the participants are planning working visits to European countries to learn about the possibilities of countries cooperating on military matters without revealing top-secret information.

A group is planning to visit an air force base in London in June and to see NATO maneuvers in Europe in September.

TALKS TO CONTINUE BETWEEN FORMAL SESSIONS

Second, the negotiators said they would hold workshops between the official negotiating rounds. A meeting to focus on the issue of verification is scheduled to take place in Cairo in July.

Third, the parties hope to work on concrete ideas that could enhance mutual levels of confidence.

Each of these ideas would have a “mentor” country serving as supervisor.

One such idea under consideration is the establishment of a maritime center or search-and-rescue organization. One possibility is to establish such a center near the Red Sea, with Israel and other neighboring countries as participants. Canada would act as the mentor for this plan.

Another idea would establish communications networks and a hot line in case of accidents.

A third idea, with Turkey acting as mentor, would involve an exchange of information between countries on maneuvers and drills.

This week’s session, which ran from Tuesday Thursday, marked the first time Palestinian negotiators and representatives from the United Nations have taken part in the arms control talks.

But Syria and Lebanon stayed away, as they did during the last two rounds in Moscow and Washington.

The two countries have also boycotted the other four sets of multilateral talks, which deal with such regional issues as economic development, refugee issues, water resources and environmental concerns.

Twenty-five delegations were taking part in the arms control talks, and the United States was serving as chair of this week’s meetings.

Last week, there was a round of multilateral talks dealing with refugee issues, held in Oslo, and a round of environmental talks is to take place next week in Tokyo.