Israeli Minister-Without-Portfolio Ezer Weizman ended a trip to Washington Thursday after failing to win a commitment for renewed high-level U.S. involvement in the Middle East peace process.
Weizman, who has long sought improved relations with Egypt, had been sent here by Prime Minister Shimon Peres in an effort to persuade the U.S. to reassert itself in the peace effort and in the still unresolved dispute between Egypt and Israel over Taba.
Taba is the small strip of territory on Israel’s southern border which both countries claim and whose status was left unresolved with Israel’s withdrawal from the Sinai in 1982.
Weizman met twice this week with Secretary of State George Shultz, but failed to persuade him to undertake a new visit to the region.
"The Secretary is always looking for an opportunity to be helpful, if the United States can be, in connection with the Middle East peace process," State Department spokesman Bernard Kalb said Thursday. But he added
State Department legal adviser Abraham Sofaer is currently in the region in an effort to mediate the Taba dispute. Negotiations over Taba have foundered over the wording of the terms of reference for binding
The pursuit by Peres of a heightened American involvement in the peace process and in resolving the lingering tensions surrounding Taba and other aspects of Israel-Egyptian ties, have taken on a certain urgency as the scheduled rotation of the
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