Peres and Mubarak to Hold Talks

Avraham Tamir, Administrative Director General of the Foreign Ministry, said Wednesday that planning for an international conference on Middle East peace will continue and will be a subject of Foreign Minister Shimon Peres’ talk with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak when they meet in Cairo shortly. The date is not yet fixed.

His remarks, to reporters in Jerusalem, clashed with Premier Yitzhak Shamir’s assertions in Washington this week that he is firmly opposed to an international conference and that the majority of Israelis supported his position.

Tamir, a close associate of Peres, said the Cairo meeting would continue the process begun when Peres, as Premier, met with Mubarak in Alexandria last September and agreed to preparatory moves for an international conference. According to Tamir, Peres’ position was approved by the coalition government he headed at the time, a claim disputed by Likud.

Tamir explained that what will take place at this stage is a discussion of the basic framework of an international conference. “We are talking about talking, not about giving anything away,” and no government approval is required, he said.

He said Peres was not looking for a showdown with Shamir, but observers here believe that Labor Party leaders are not going out of their way to avoid one. Shamir, for his part, has hinted that he is prepared to put the issue to a test in a general election.

The Egyptian Ambassador to Israel, Mohammad Basyouni, said here Tuesday that there is no doubt that the peace process and the international conference will top the agenda when Peres and Mubarak meet. Basyouni spoke at a press conference on the eve of the second anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Egypt and Israel.