Israeli P.M. rejects peace moves

Press, 20 February 1987, Page 6

Israeli P.M. rejects peace moves

NZPA-Reuter Washington

Three days of tough talks in Washington with the Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, have left United States officials apparently wondering what they could try next to get Middle East peace 'talks rolling.

President Ronald Reagan, who saw Mr Shamir for two hours yesterday, and the Secretary of State, George Shultz, said the United States saw possibilities in the idea of an international conference.

They believe this might be a way to get to direct Arab-Israeli peace talks, although it would give the Soviet Union its first official role in the Middle East.

But Mr Shamir, making his first visit to Washington since taking office for the second time four months ago, adamantly

turned his face against the idea. He denounced the notion of a conference, which would be held under the auspices of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, as one inspired by the Soviet Union at the behest of radical Arab nations.

His resolute opposition clearly frustrated United States officials.

“Over the last two years and more we have touched upon every possible grouping of negotiators and all possible auspices,” a senior official said yesterday. .

None has succeeded in getting talks started. The senior official, who declined to be identified, said that under the smiles and mutual congratulations, there had been some tough talking. Messrs Reagan and Shultz had told the Israeli

leader that it was in the United States’ interest to sell sophisticated weapons to moderate Arab countries, sales usually opposed by the powerful Israeli lobby in Congress.

The official would provide no further details, but others who also requested anonymity said the United States urgently needed to make such sales to recover some of the ground it had lost among Arabs in the Iran arms scandal:

Sales of F-16 warplanes to Bahrain and the latest armoured fighting vehicles to Saudi Arabia have been proposed to Congress.

The Administration fears that if Congress continues to block such sales, moderate Arab countries might turn to Moscow for supplies and allow expansion of Soviet influence in the region.