Peace conference bid splits Israeli leaders

Press, 25 February 1987, Page 10

Peace conference bid splits Israeli leaders

NZPA-Reuter Tel Aviv

The Israeli Foreign Minister, Shimon Peres, flies to Egypt tomorrow for talks on a Middle East peace conference that could bring about a showdown with his Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir. Mr Peres’ sudden trip, announced while Mr Shamir was visiting the United States, follows a mounting war of words between the leaders of Israel’s uneasy unity coalition Government over the next stage in Arab-Israeli peace negotiations. Mr Peres, head of the Labour Party, supports an international peace conference that would provide a framework for direct talks among Israel, Jordan and Palestinian

representatives.

He has warned he would break up the Government if Mr Shamir, the Right-wing Likud leader, failed to explore ail opportunities for peace.

The Prime Minister says it would be madness for Israel to attend such a meeting. He says the Soviet Union and radical Arab countries would use a conference to force an isolated Israel to give up occupied territory and concede a Palestinian State. Political sources said there would be a serious clash in the Israeli Cabinet if Mr Peres pressed the conference proposal during his 48-hour visit to Cairo.

A senior Likud official told Reuter that Mr Peres had no mandate to com-

mit Israel to such a conference.

Asked by Israeli television in Los Angeles whether the Government might collapse over the issue, Mr Shamir was quoted yesterday as saying: “It definitely is possible.”

Mr Peres told reporters that Mr Shamir had been informed about the trip only an hour before it was announced. He said he had not sought the Prime Minister’s approval because “I am not someone’s employee.” The Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, whom Mr Peres will meet tomorrow, has played a central role in trying to promote a peace conference, in close consultation with Jordan.

Messrs Mubarak and

Peres, who was then Israel’s Prime Minister before switching posts with Mr Shamir; agreed last September in Alexandria to set up a preparatory committee; to pave the way for a peace conference. 3 ;

Palestinian sources said Jordan’s King Hussein and the Palestine Liberation Organisation leader, Yasser Arafat, were expected to visit Cairo , soon after Mr Peres’ visit to discuss peace moves. King Hussein has said the conference should be attended by all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council — The United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, France and China — as well as Middle East participants.

The proposal gained international momentum this month. The United States last week publicly urged Mr Shamir to reconsider the idea. The Soviet Union has hinted that it may restore ties with Israel and allow more Soviet Jews to emigrate in an apparent bid to ensure its seat at the table. The 12-nation European Community yesterday added its voice to calls for a peace conference under U.N. auspices. The E.C. Foreign Ministers, meeting in Brussels, were apparently convinced it was the only way to press forward with peace efforts.

The Ministers did not spell out who should attend the conference, but

they implicitly accepted that the Soviet Union would play an important role, diplomats said. The Israeli Foreign Ministry’s director-gen-eral, Yossi Beilin, welcomed the E.C. statement, noting the Europeans ho longer referred directly to a need for P.L.O. participation. But Western diplomats said formidable obstacles are blocking a peace conference, and Mr Peres might be well advised not to force an election on the issue.

Israel and the Arabs still disagree radically on who should represent the Palestinians in peace talks. Even Mr Peres, a dove by Israeli standards, rejects negotiations with the P.L.O. under any cir-

Israel is demanding concessions on Soviet Jewish emigration which go beyond anything the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, appear; likely to allow, the diplomats said. Above all, diplomats said there was no sign that King Hussein would risk negotiations that would yield less than the return of all territory Israel captured from Jordan in the 1967 Middle East War.

“Most experts reckon Hussein feels safer with the present stable de facto peace with Israel than he would entering uncertain peace talks, even under an international umbrella,” said a senior Western diplomat