Premier Shimon Peres sent a letter to Secretary of State George Shultz this evening containing Israel’s official res- ponse to Shultz’s letter last week on the prospects of peace talks between Israel and a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. The meticulously drafted letter is the product of close consultation between Peres and Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, the leader of Likud, and is therefore a document of the unity coalition government of Labor and Likud.
Sources close to Peres said tonight that the letter is a “model of compromise”, a “national unity paper” and “does not close any doors.” Although signed by Peres, it conveys greetings from Shamir who is presently in London. Shamir departed on his European trip Sunday but is known to have been in close contact with Peres on the reply to Shultz. Peres and his aides also worked closely with Moshe Arens, a Likud Minister-Without-Portfolio who is acting Foreign Minister in the absence of Shamir.
AVOID REJECTING PNC MEMBERS
In the letter Peres avoided any explicit rejection of members of the Palestine National Council (PNC) as possible participants in a joint Jordanian-Palestinian negotiating team. But he ruled out “Palestinians belonging to the PLO or any of its institutions.”
The letter advises the U.S. not to hold separate talks with a joint Jordanian-Palestinian group prior to talks between such a group and Israel. It proclaims Israel’s readiness to negotiate directly with a joint delegation or to negotiate with Jordan alone “as speedily as possible.”It stresses Israel’s readiness to hold talks without preconditions.
Peres declared himself in favor of “international support” for Middle East peace talks but reiterated Israel’s opposition to an international conference, urged by King Hussein of Jordan, in which the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, among them the Soviet Union, would participate as well as Arab rejectionist states, such as Syria.
The letter expressed Israel’s hope for continued “close cooperation” with the U.S. on all policy matters affecting the peace process. It spelled out Israel’s objections to the sale of sophisticated weapons to Jordan as planned by the Reagan Administration, noting that Jordan maintains a state of belligerency with Israel.
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