The State Department said Monday that it was “perplexed” by acting Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s statements opposing a U.S. framework for an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.
Shamir, who last Friday received a 21-day mandate to try to form a new government, said in an Independence Day radio interview, excerpts of which were broadcast Sunday, that any new Likud-led government would not respond positively to a U.S. proposal for a preliminary Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.
“We are perplexed by the prime minister’s statement,” said State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler.
“The government of Israel asked us to find a Palestinian partner from the territories to help implement its May 1989 initiative,” which “we were on the verge of accomplishing,” she said.
The purpose of such a dialogue, to be held in Cairo, would be to set the ground rules for holding Palestinian elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Secretary of State James Baker conceived the idea to help implement an official Israeli peace plan approved by the Shamir-led government last May.
Accepting Baker’s concept “meant saying yes to the government of Israel’s plan, yes to Israeli-Palestinian dialogue and yes to peace,” Tutwiler said. “Continuing to say no will give us very little to work with and will probably mean losing an important opportunity to move peace forward.”
But she added, “We hope that once the political situation in Israel clarifies, we can work with the government of Israel to move ahead.”
If the Israeli peace initiative fails, Baker has threatened to reveal the recent history of U.S. negotiations with Israel and Egypt, to tell the world who was at fault for making it fail. Egypt represents the Palestine Liberation Organization in the talks.
“That time has been approaching,” Tutwiler said. But she added, “As we have said many times, we are looking forward to working with an Israeli government that emerges.”
Tutwiler said she does not expect the details to be revealed now. “I just don’t think that’s in the cards,” she said.
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