The White House eased doubts Thursday that President Bush would meet with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir when he comes to the United States in November.
“It hasn’t yet been determined or scheduled,” White House spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said. “That’s probably likely, I think, it just hasn’t been worked out.”
Shamir, who is coming to the United States to address the annual General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations in Cincinnati on Nov. 16, had been expected to meet with Bush the day before.
But after Shamir had denounced Secretary of State James Baker’s five-point proposal for Israeli-Palestinian talks in Cairo, there were indications that Bush might refuse to see Shamir.
At the same time, there were hints from Jerusalem that Shamir might cancel his U.S. trip, not only because of difficulties with the Bush administration, but also to avoid public clashes with some Jewish leaders who had urged him to be more flexible.
Fitzwater denied that the White House was using the meeting to achieve more compliance from Shamir.
But a week of acerbic exchanges between the administration and Israel appeared to end Monday night, when Baker received a letter from Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens accepting the U.S. proposals, but with two reservations.
The first objection was that Israel wanted assurances that it would not have to negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The second was that the Cairo talks deal only with Shamir’s proposal for elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in which Palestinians would select representatives to negotiate with Israel for autonomy.
State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said Thursday that Baker had completed his review of Arens’ proposed changes.
“He knows what he thinks about it,” she said, but would not reveal what conclusions he has made. She said he was continuing to discuss his proposals by telephone with Arens and Egyptian Foreign Minister Esmat Abdel Meguid.
Baker told a news conference Wednesday that while he would review Arens’ suggestions, he believed his five points were a “reasonable” way of bringing about the elections proposed by Israel.
He warned that if changes were made to meet Israeli concerns, the matter would drag on, since the other side might also ask for changes.
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