Labor Party chairman Shimon Peres will meet with top officials of the outgoing and incoming Administrations during a 12-day visit to the U.S. beginning next week. They include Vice President Walter Mondale, Vice President-elect George Bush, Secretary of State-designate Alexander Haig and Richard Allen who will head the National Security Council.
Peres, who won a substantial victory over former Premier Yitzhak Rabin in the leadership contest at the Labor Party’s convention earlier this month was invited by the United Jewish Appeal and the Israel Bond Organization to lecture in several American cities. He is expected to meet with members of Congress and leaders of the American Jewish community.
Rabin, too, will be leaving for the U.S. next week, accompanied by his wife, Leah, at the invitation of the UJA. They will both deliver speeches in various parts of the country.
Peres is expected to discuss the “Jordanian option” with members of the incoming Administration. He has reportedly kept abreast of the views of Arab leaders in the occupied territories and beyond with respect to involving Jordan in the autonomy talks. The Labor Party, which Peres will head in next year’s Knesset elections, favors negotiation with Jordan over the future of the West Bank.
Rabin is scheduled to appear at a Washington symposium on “Israel, the Middle East and the U.S.” initiated by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. Allen and Sen. Henry Jackson (D.Wash.) will also participate.
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