Bid to solve Middle East peace snag

Press, 3 September 1982, Page 1

Bid to solve Middle East peace snag

NZPA-Reuter Los Angeles President Reagan, in a dramatic effort to break the impasse in the Middle East peace negotiations. has called for self-government by Palestinians in Israelioccupied territories in association with Jordan. In a televised address yesterday. Mr Reagan said that the United States would not support either an independent Palestinian State in the territories or Israeli annexation. He also called for an immediate freeze on the establishment of Jewish settlements on the West Bank. His proposals, presented earlier to Israel. Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, drew immediate Israeli charges that the United States was deviating from the 1978 Camp David accords. But the Israeli Cabinet rejected the Reagan plan late last evening. (N.Z. time). The Israeli Government was expected .to formally endorse the rejection today. A senior State Department official said that the proposals were “guiding principles” on the American position in future negotiations on Palestian self-rule. Mr Reagan’s position came between Arab demands for a Palestinian State and Israel’s clear intention to retain control over the West Bank, which the Israeli Prime Minister. Mr Begin, calls by the biblical names of Judea and Samaria. Mr Reagan said that the United States “will not support the establishment of an independent Palestinian State in the West Bank and Gaza, and we will not support annexation or permanent'control by Israel.” While final status had to be achieved through negotiation, he said, “It is the firm view of the United States that self-government by Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza in association with Jordan offers the best

chance for a durable, just and lasting peace." The State Department official said that details of such an arangement should be left for the negotiations, but Mr Reagan saw it as the most sensible alternative. Mr Reagan interrupted a holiday at his California ranch to make the speech as the last Palestinian guerrillas left. Beirut, an event which he said should be seized as an opportunity for a new and far-reaching peace effort. The Israeli officials that charged that the proposals deviated from Camp David, but Mr Reagan said that the 1978 accords remained the foundation of United States policy. Appealing for a fresh start. Mr Reagan said. "I call on Israel to make clear that the security for which she yearns can only be achieved through genuine peace, a peace requring magnanimity, vision and courage." Jordan and the Palestinians have refused to take part in the negotiations on Palestinian self-rule which they consider to be only a facade for continued Israeli occupation. Mr Reagan said that Israel had the right to exist behind secure and defensible borders and a right to demand that its neighbours recognised this. Mr Reagan added that the United States view was that in return for peace Israel should withdraw from "all fronts” including the West Bank and Gaza. The Israeli foreign minister, Mr Yitzhak Shamir, responded to the United States call by declaring that his country would never give up its natural right to settle and live anywhere in the West Bank and Gaza. “No power, be it the strongest and most friendly, will force us to withdraw to the strangling borders of June 1967," he said. Jordan would benefit, page 6