The government of Israel will continue Premier Shimon Peres’ two-year search for a negotiated solution of the Palestinian problem when Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir becomes Premier in October under the national unity government rotation agreement. This contention was expressed by Peres during his visit here this week.
“It is not a change in government from the Labor Party to the Likud Party,” he stressed before several hundred persons in response to a question after a speech to the policy forum of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel.
Peres said he has acted during his two years as Premier on the common policy set by the national unity government.
Reagan Administration officials also have been stressing in the past several weeks that they expect no change in Israel’s commitment to the peace process when Shamir becomes Prime Minister.
Peres’ address before the Washington-based think tank ended two days of talks here with President Reagan, Vice President George Bush, Secretary of State George Shultz and Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. He also met with the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
REMOVING OBSTACLES TO NEGOTIATIONS
In his speech, which came just prior to his departure for Ottawa, Canada, Peres said his efforts had been aimed at “removing obstacles along the road” to direct negotiations with Jordan and the Palestinians. He said it is necessary “to create all the prior conditions necessary for a negotiation so we can be able to negotiate without prior conditions.”
The one obstacle to negotiations that Peres focussed on during his two days in Washington is King Hussein’s demand for an international conference as an “umbrella” for Jordan to negotiate with Israel. Israel does not want the international conference, Peres stressed Tuesday. “We would rather have the wedding between the bride and the groom without the mothers-in-law,” he quipped. “There are so many of them.”
But, he noted that during his meeting last week with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Alexandria they agreed on establishing a preparatory committee to work out the conditions and participants for an international forum. Peres stressed Tuesday that the international forum, which he envisions as only opening the way for direct negotiations, must not be able to impose a solution or “break any agreement reached by the parties themselves.”
REITERATES CONDITIONS FOR SOVIET PARTICIPATION
Hussein wants the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to participate. But Peres reiterated Tuesday that Israel would not accept the Soviet Union and the People’s Republic of China which do not have diplomatic relations with Israel. In addition, Peres said Israel also wants the USSR to allow Jews to emigrate freely to Israel.
Shultz listed these two conditions also for Soviet participation after his meeting with Peres Monday. Shultz also called for the Soviets to “treat Jews in the Soviet Union decently.”
Reagan, in his remarks to Peres after their White House meeting Monday, stressed that “The United States government remains deeply concerned about the plight of Soviet Jewry and this subject will continue to be an important part of our dialogue with the Soviet Union.”
In discussing the international forum Tuesday, Peres said that it is envisioned that after the large meeting it will break up into regional dialogues for direct negotiations between Israel and a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation, Israel and Syria, and Israel and Lebanon, However, he did not believe there was much chance of Syria entering the peace talks at this time.
The real stress is expected to continue on finding a solution to the Palestinian problem. “We are for the solution of the Palestinian problem,” Peres said, adding that it can only come about through diplomatic negotiations. “The real choice in the Middle East is between Jordan and the PLO. Either or,” he said.
Peres said that Israel believes Hussein is a “responsible leader. He may buy Russian arms, but I don’t believe he will buy a Russian orientation.” But he said if the PLO were to take over the West Bank it might bring the Soviets to the Jordan River.
In response to a question Peres denied that Israel was selling arms to Iran. Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin had to repeatedly issue the same denial during his visit to Washington last week.
REAGAN PRAISES PERES
Peres did not mention anything about Israel’s economy in his speech Tuesday, one of the major topics in his discussions with Shultz and Reagan. But the President, after meeting with Peres, said the Israeli leaders and his national unity government colleagues “have achieved remarkable success in stabilizing the economy.” He said they are now trying to achieve growth “with our full encouragement and support.”
In saying farewell to Peres as Israel’s Premier, Reagan praised him as a “valued friend and statesman for peace.” Reagan stressed that the U.S. and Israel are committed “to search for a negotiated peace between Israel and all of its Arab neighbors.” Reagan said that both Peres and he “have agreed that a steady determined effort is needed by all if the remaining obstacles to direct negotiations are to be surmounted.”
A belief that the prospects for peace had improved in the Mideast was expressed also by Peres and Shultz at the meeting Monday. “We see a new acceptance in the region that there is no war option,” Shultz said. “The people affected by this conflict want peace.” Peres said the peace process is part of peace. “When you are trying to achieve peace you are beginning to live at peace,” he said.
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