The Palestinians have still not decided whether they will attend this week’s multilateral conference on Middle East regional issues in Moscow.
But, barring a last-minute change of heart, it appears they will boycott the gathering, which opens Tuesday in the Russian capital.
Syria and Lebanon are also staying home, though Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and several other Arab countries are attending.
The Palestinians want to go to Moscow as a separate delegation from Jordan. In addition, they want to include in the delegation Palestinians from East Jerusalem and the “diaspora,” that is, areas outside the territory controlled by Israel.
A final decision on whether the Palestinians will attend will be made by the Palestine Liberation Organization leadership in Tunis.
A PLO spokesman, Yasir Abed Rabbo, said Sunday that the Palestinians would not go to Moscow. But some observers said they would not be surprised if the delegation leaves for the Russian capital at the last moment.
Meanwhile, Israel is planning to present the conference with detailed proposals to curb the arms race in the Middle East, Foreign Minister David Levy, who is heading the delegation, told Israeli journalists in Beijing.
They include a plan, once proposed by the Soviet Union, to establish a joint command and communications center for the prevention of malfunctions in the military sphere.
According to Levy, the ideas presented by Israel have already been well received by the United States. Israel claims that an end to the arms race has no practical significance as long as it is not accompanied by precise and consistent control.
Levy emphasized that bringing peace to the region is hardly served by the arms merchants running amok in the region.
He called on the United States and Europe “to raise the curtain on part of the game and to reach a general end to arms supplies to the Middle East.”
Levy said Israel had reservations about the American proposal to focus the multilateral conference on two main issues: arms control and “human resources.”
He fears that “everyone will want to be a member of the exclusive arms race club” and that the “human resources” talks would be limited.
He was satisfied though that U.S. Secretary of State James Baker accepted, in principle, Israel’s proposal to divide the conference into five or six topics.
In Moscow, a steering committee will be established at the senior official level to determine the preliminary committees. The topics that have already been agreed to are arms control, environment, water and the Gulf of Aqaba. Other topics, such as refugee rehabilitation, are expected to be added as the conference progresses.
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.
