Likud ministers accused U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz over the weekend of trying to influence the outcome of Israel’s elections, to be held Nov.1.
But the ministers declined to be quoted directly, and Premier Yitzhak Shamir made clear that he does not share that view.
They were reacting to a speech Shultz made Friday at a conference sponsored by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a research and study center.
Shultz firmly opposed a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but insisted that Israel must make territorial concessions to end the conflict.
In Shamir’s opinion, Shultz’s speech was intended to guide the next American administration on Middle East policy. Avi Pazner, Shamir’s media adviser and spokesman, said Shultz’s remarks simply reiterated the American views expressed in the peace plan Shultz has been trying to sell to both sides since last year.
With respect to the secretary’s warning against right-wing proposals to “transfer” the Arab population from the Israeli-administered territories, the prime minister’s spokesman said the government of Israel also opposes that idea.
PERES FINDS SPEECH CONSTRUCTIVE
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who heads the Labor Alignment, had a more positive reaction to Shultz’s speech. He described it as “very responsible and constructive.”
Peres noted that Shultz explicitly said there was no place for a Palestinian state and that there would be no return to Israel’s pre-1967 borders. It was also important that the United States clarified its position against transfer of the Arab population, the foreign minister said.
He said he believed the speech did not only reflect Shultz’s views, but was an indication of the positions that will be taken by the next administration, whether Democratic or Republican.
Shultz’s remarks were no departure from past statements of American policy. But they were the first comprehensive update since King Hussein of Jordan divorced himself of responsibility for the Palestinians in the West Bank.
The secretary of state warned that the status of the territories could not be determined by unilateral acts of either Arabs or Israelis.
“A declaration of independent Palestinian statehood or government in exile would be such a unilateral act,” Shultz stated.
He also said the latest proposal by Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat that Israel be made to return to the borders of the partition plan adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in November 1947, was out of the question.
“Israel will never negotiate from or return to the lines of partition,” Shultz said. “But it must be prepared to withdraw, as Resolution 242 says, ‘from territories occupied in the recent conflict.'”
The secretary said Israel must help the Palestinians achieve “rapid control” over their own affairs in the territories. “Israel must find a way to respond to expressions of Palestinian grievances,” he said.
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