Richard Murphy, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, was in Europe this weekend in another attempt to advance the Middle East peace process.
Murphy met with King Hussein of Jordan in London on Saturday and the next day conferred with Israeli Premier Shimon Peres at The Hague. There was no indication that any progress had been made although Peres reportedly commented after his talks that no breakthrough should be expected.
The State Department’s point man on the Mideast, Murphy made six trips to the Middle East last year but apparently was not planning to go to the region this time. In announcing the trip last Friday, State Department spokesman Bernard Kalb stressed again the United States’ “objective” which is to bring about direct negotiations between Israel and a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation.
“We will be working with the parties to achieve an international context that meets the political needs of those involved and leads to direct negotiations,” Kalb said.
Last month, a senior Administration official, summing up the Reagan Administration’s Mideast efforts in 1985, said that the U.S. would be concentrating on getting Israel and Jordan to agree on conditions for an international conference that would lead to direct negotiations. The official said that a large measure of agreement already exists and that the U.S. would try to help the parties “fill in the gaps.”
Kalb also indicated Friday that the U.S. still sees no role for the Soviet Union in the Mideast peace process. He said if the USSR “wishes to play a larger role” then it must demonstrate by being “constructive.”
Perhaps one reason for Murphy’s hurried trip to Europe is the Administration’s concern over its proposed $1.9 billion arms sale to Jordan. With Congress returning tomorrow there is a strong likelihood that new resolutions will be introduced in both the Senate and the House to reject sale. Last October, Congress passed a resolution delaying the sale until March I unless “direct and meaningful negotiations between Israel and Jordan are underway.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. welcomed the decision by Spain to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. “We have long said that we favor full recognition of Israel by all members of the international community,” Kalb said. “This makes Spain’s practice consistent with those of the other members of the European Economic Community which Spain joined earlier this month.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
