The Reagan Administration lauded today both the peace proposal put forward by Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres on Monday and the qualified praise it received from Jordan’s King Hussein.
At the same time, the Administration acknowledged that Assistant Secretary of State Richard Murphy flew to Amman earlier this week to meet with the Jordanian monarch.
In his address to United Nations General Assembly, Peres responded to the King’s consistent call for an international conference as a framework for Mideast peace talks, by calling for direct negotiations between Israel and Jordan or between Israel and a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation, with some form of “international support” provided by the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
However, the Soviet Union and China — both permanent members of the Council — would be excluded from the process, according to the Peres’ plan, unless they established diplomatic relations with Israel. In response to a question at a press briefing today, Deputy State Department spokesman Charles Redman said that both the Peres speech and Hussein’s comments “demonstrate anew that Israel and Jordan are dedicated to make the peace process work.”
Redman declined comment on the recent agreement between Jordan and Syria which included a stipulation not to undertake any “partial and unilateral peace agreements with Israel.”
Earlier this morning, Peres described Hussein’s response to his proposal as “positive” and said he welcomed “the change in style.” Interviewed on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America,” Peres said: “I think it’s the first time probably in the history of the Middle East that in the exchange between Jordan and Israel, a constructive style was adopted.”
Meanwhile, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was scheduled to meet with Hussein in Amman today where, according to Redman, Murphy visited this week, as well.
Redman announced, in response to a question, that Murphy flew to Jordan earlier this week “to continue our post-consultations with the government of Jordan on the peace process.” Murphy is scheduled to return to Washington tomorrow.
Murphy last paid a visit to the Middle East in August, when an attempt to meet with a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation fell through because of Jordan’s insistence that PLO officials be included in the talks. This visit did not include a meeting with such a delegation, nor was that the purpose of his trip, Redman said today.
Explaining the Administration’s secrecy over the Murphy trip, Redman said: “We believe it would be best for Assistant Secretary Murphy to pursue these consultations quietly and without publicity.”
Declining to give specifics of Murphy’s meetings with Hussein and other Jordanian officials, Redman said only that the Administration continued to believe that “progress is being made.” But he added that “it would be a mistake to look for dramatic developments.”
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