Arabs Trying to Encourage Active U.S. Mideast Effort

Saudi Arabian King Fahd’s visit to Washington this week signals the beginning of a major attempt by moderate Arabs to encourage a more active U.S. role in the Mideast peace process.

“Throughout 1984, we were waiting for the elections--the American elections, the Israeli elections, the Palestinian elections,” Butros Butros Ghali, Egypt’s deputy foreign minister, said in a recent interview. “Now the elections are over, and the time has come to do something. We believe the United States still has an important role to play in moving the peace process forward.”

However, the Reagan Administration’s position, especially after the painful failure of its peace efforts in Lebanon, is that if the Arabs and Israelis are unwilling to work toward certain goals themselves, the United States will not mediate to achieve those goals.

The bottom line is that the Arabs and the United States are asking for fundamental changes in each other’s policies, and those changes are not likely to come as a result of the Washington meetings, U.S. and Arab sources said.

The Arab press has attached unusual--and, Western diplomats say, probably undue--significance to Fahd’s trip and to Washington visits planned in the next few months by the leaders of Egypt, Kuwait, Algeria and perhaps Jordan. One Lebanese news magazine, Al Ousbou al Arabi, described Fahd’s discussions with President Reagan as the “last Arab attempt to rescue America’s credibility.”

Another publication said Fahd will tell Reagan that “Arab patience is beginning to run out.”

However, Western political analysts say that such comments ignore a key point. The Arabs, unable to solve their own problems, have themselves shown little flexibility. Only one country, Egypt, has formally committed itself to solving Arab-Israeli problems through negotiation rather than confrontation.

‘Response Was Flawed’

“President Reagan worked hard on his 1982 peace initiative,” said a senior Washington official. “We knew the Israelis would not support it, but we expected a more positive response from the Arabs. They failed to capitalize, as they always do. Their response was flawed.

“The Arabs are playing an old game by old rules, and that game is no longer relevant. They think it’s still 1948.”

Arab governments, the Administration believes, must accept the reality of 1985 and publicly acknowledge Israel’s right to exist, then negotiate directly with the coalition government of Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

For their part, the Arabs want the United States to deal directly with the Palestine Liberation Organization and to strike a more evenhanded policy between Arab and Israeli interests.

Israel and the United States refuse to negotiate directly with the PLO, citing the guerrilla organization’s stated desire to do away with Israel. In his 1982 Mideast peace initiative, Reagan proposed that Israel yield the West Bank to the Palestinians, where they would set up a political entity--but not an independent state--in some form of association with Jordan. But neither Israel, Jordan nor the PLO endorsed the Reagan plan.

Best-Case Scenario

Both Egypt and the United States believe that the first step toward a permanent Middle East settlement is for Jordan and the PLO to agree on a joint plan for solving the Palestinian problem. In the best-case scenario, that would lead to negotiations with Israel, during which Israel would, it is hoped, show a willingness to trade occupied land for peace.

The Jordanian government announced Monday that King Hussein and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat have reached agreement on “a framework for common action” to deal with the Palestinian problem, but no details were given.

Egyptian officials have been quoted in the Cairo press almost daily as saying that progress was being made in sporadic talks between Jordan and the PLO. In private conversations, though, they expressed doubt that Arafat, who has built a political career on making no commitments, will go through with the alliance proposed by Hussein.

The most critical of these officials believe that Arafat and the PLO leadership now place more value on personal and organizational survival than they do on the objectives of Palestinian nationalism. Whether the Palestinian people themselves will eventually come to the same conclusion is not clear.

Arab Visitors to U.S.

While King Fahd, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak--who is to arrive March 9--and the other Arab leaders all are traveling to Washington as seekers of peace, each is also looking to the Reagan Administration to meet its domestic or military needs.

Fahd wants more F-15 jet fighters, Mubarak wants another $1 billion in developmental aid. Kuwait and Jordan want arms. Algeria wants to balance U.S. support for Morocco, which is fighting Algerian-backed guerrillas in Western Sahara. With Washington eager to promote a coalition of moderate Arab states, it is likely that each will receive a sympathetic hearing and few will come away empty-handed.

“But I don’t think anyone realistically expects any dramatic breakthroughs,” said a non-American Western diplomat. “Both the Americans and the Arabs are testing the waters at this point, and both are still pretty much unbending, saying it is the other side that has to make the concessions.”