King’s proposals ‘very forward’

Press, 1 June 1985, Page 11

King’s proposals ‘very forward’

NZPA-AP Washington King Hussein of Jordan outlined to American congressional leaders yesterday his hopes. for peace talks with Israel that would include the Palestine Liberation Organisation. “What the King said here was a very forward, certainly more optimistic statement than I’ve heard in years and years and years about the possibilities,” said an Opposition Democratic congressman, Dante Fascell, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Mr Fascell said after the breakfast given by King Hussein that the King had recounted what he told the President, Mr Ronald Reagan, on Thursday — that the P.L.O. accepted United Nations resolutions 242 and 338 on the Middle East and was ready to negotiate peace with Israel. The resolutions call for an Arab-Israeli peace treaty that would include the return by Israel of land it has occupied since the six-day war in June, 1967. They also call for recognising the right of Israel and all other countries in the Middle East to exist peacefully. “The possibility that discussions can continue on the basis of United Nations

resolutions in the Middle East seems to us to open the door and has considerable potential,” Mr Fascell said. “Of course, we’re all pleased to hear that, and we’ll have to wait and see how it progresses.” It remained to be seen whether the P.L.O. had made progress toward recognition by the United States. Washington’s policy is to refuse to talk to the P.L.O. until it accepts the United. Nations resolutions and Israel’s right to exist. Officials of the Reagan Administration said on

Thursday that King Hussein’s declaration that he had P.L.O. endorsement of the resolutions was a big step towards meeting the United States conditions. “That certainly would be progress” if the Palestinians accepted Israel’s right to exist and were “willing to proceed into negotiations on the basis of the United Nations resolutions,” said Mr Fascell. King Hussein had not mentioned his desire to buy United States arms and it was “too early to say” whether Congress would go along if the Adminstration proposed the sale of Hawk anti-aircraft missiles or other sophisticated weapons to Jordan. “We’d have to see how this whole process unfolds before we make any decision on that and I think there would be considerable reservation in the Congress,” said Mr Fascell.

The Foreign Aid Bill, approved by Mr Fascell’s committee and pending before the full House, includes a ban on selling “advanced aircraft, new air defence weapons systems or other new advanced military weapons systems”