Israeli P.M. appears to rebuff American pleas

Press, 21 February 1987, Page 10

Israeli P.M. appears to rebuff American pleas

By

MICHAEL BATTYE

of Reuters (through NZPA) Washington

The Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, left Washington yesterday after a three-day visit in which he appeared to rebuff American pleas for flexibility on most of the main topics discussed.

United States officials asked him to consider an international peace conference, hedging their proposal with assurances it would have to lead straight to direct ArabIsraeli peace talks and that Moscow would have no substantial role.

Mr Shamir rejected the idea, as he did an American request to ease Israeli opposition to United States arms sales to Arab nations. He reserved a decision on ditching Israel’s Lavi warplane, which American officials say is unacceptably expensive. He agreed to full cooperation in United States probes into the Iran arms

scandal, but stuck to his original, insistence that Israeli officials could be questioned only in writing, hot in person as congressional committees had asked. An international conference was Washington’s latest hope of getting stalled Middle East peace talks moving again by accommodating Jordan’s desire not to be isolated from the rest of the Arab world by negotiating directly with Israel. But Mr Shamir, who was due to head for Los Angeles on a private visit, rejected the idea from the start of his visit He argued in an address to the National Press Club that Jordan would have to enter direct talks. “Sooner or later we shall have to meet to discuss ways to convert the current de facto peaceful relationship between us into a de jure peace,” he said. “If any Arab country is not willing to sit down with us, it is proof that this country is not ripe for

peace,” he said, He also refused to ease Israel’s opposition, through its powerful lobby in Congress, to sales of sophisticated ~ American weapons to Arab countries. . . ■

United States officials, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters such sales were needed to repair United States-Arab ties heavily damaged by the Iran arms sales, made

as Washington assured the world an arms embargo was intact.

On the Lavi fighter, Mr Shamir said all options were being studied and a decision would be made soon. But he hinted clearly that he wouid like to go ahead with the project. ’ , ’

“Generally: speaking, we are very interested to develop our aircraft industry,” Mr Shamir said. “We are very proud that a small country like us can have its own aircraft, a good aircraft.”

Mr Shamir also asked Washington to stop classifying Jewish emigrants from the Soviet Union as refugees and giving them the option <of going Straight to the United States.- n.-

He argued they left the Soviet Union on Israeli visas and should therefore go to Israel first, no matter where they went after.?;::’.

“They have a homeland. They are not refugees,” he said.