Shamir Says Iran-contras Affair Won’t Be Focal Point of Washington Talks

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said Monday the Iran-Contras affair would not be the focal issue of talks with the Reagan Administration during his upcoming visit to Washington.

Shamir is to visit the U.S. capital in mid-February and will meet with President Reagan and top administration and Congressional leaders. But he conceded that he expected the media to focus on Irangate in their coverage of his visit to the U.S.

He said the Administration continued to be engaged in Mideast peacemaking efforts and its involvement had not been sidetracked by the Iran affair.

Shamir deplored the positions of certain Arab states which called for Soviet involvement in a peace forum on the grounds that Washington had lost credibility in the region as a result of the sale of arms to Iran.

He spoke to reporters after briefing the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committees in Jerusalem.

SHAMIR REJECTS TERRITORIAL CONCESSIONS

The Premier told Committee members earlier that while he might support possible changes of tactics, he did not support the notion of territorial concessions in Judaea and Samaria. He was responding to queries about an interview he gave last week to Reuters news agency in which he was quoted as indicating that Israel might, in the course of a negotiation, move to a position favoring some territorial flexibility.

Shamir has been attacked for this statement by Gush Emunim and there have been signs of disquiet within his own Likud Party.

Meanwhile, Vice Premier Shimon Peres is preparing for a European visit that will take him to three capitals. He is to meet with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in London, with President Francois Mitterrand in Paris, and with the Foreign Ministers of the European Economic community countries in Brussels. He leaves Israel later this week.