Israel Rules Out Meeting With PLO Council

Israel on Friday rejected one possible way Secretary of State George P. Shultz could resolve the crucial issue of Palestinian representation at future peace talks when the country’s top officials ruled out negotiations with members of the Palestine National Council.

Both Prime Minister Shimon Peres and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir said that as far as Israel is concerned, the 394-member council is no different from the Palestine Liberation Organization, which Israel has consistently refused to accept as a negotiating partner.

The United States differentiates between the two organizations, although the council is the PLO’s “parliament in exile.” However, a senior State Department official traveling with Shultz said, “There is no official American position that the PNC should participate” in peace talks.

Acceptable Representatives

It was understood that King Hussein of Jordan suggested that the Palestine National Council represent the Palestinians as a compromise earlier this month when Richard W. Murphy, assistant secretary of state for the Mideast, visited the area. The plan’s objective was to find Palestinian representatives acceptable both to Israel and the PLO to fill the Palestinian places in a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. Hussein has said he will not enter peace talks with Israel unless he has the backing of the PLO.

The United States supports Palestinian participation in negotiations over the status of the West Bank of the Jordan River and Gaza Strip territories, which Israel occupied during the Six-Day War of 1967. Palestinians make up the bulk of the population of both territories.

Shultz met Peres in an unusual working dinner on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath. An official of the prime minister’s office said the two men did not complete their discussions and will meet again Sunday morning before Shultz leaves for Cairo. He plans to take a day off today to play tennis while his host celebrates the Sabbath.

Shamir met Shultz over lunch earlier in the day Friday.

Peres, leader of the Labor alignment, is often at odds with Shamir, head of the hard-line Likud bloc in Israel’s coalition government. But spokesmen said the two men expressed identical positions, emphasizing Israel’s refusal to negotiate with members of the Palestine National Council.

Shultz had hoped to find ways to break the diplomatic impasse that has blocked the Mideast peace process. But after listening to the Israelis’ tough position, the senior U.S. official who briefed reporters on the understanding he would not be identified by name, said: “We’re still at a very early stage of feeling out positions.” He conceded that Shultz would be unable to provide a very optimistic assessment when he meets Hussein at Jordan’s Red Sea resort of Aqaba on Monday.

Won’t Suggest Names

The official said that Hussein had suggested some names of possible Palestinian participants to Murphy but that it was “very much a ‘for instance’ exercise.” The official said the United States would not suggest possible Palestinian delegates, although Shultz told a press conference Thursday in Lisbon that it was time to shift to the evaluation of individuals who might participate.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Avi Pazner said Shamir raised the issue of a possible Palestine National Council compromise before Shultz had a chance to bring it up.

“Shamir stressed that the PLO will not be a partner to the negotiations,” Pazner said. “As far as the PNC is concerned, Shamir said the PNC and the PLO are the same and all members of the PNC should be considered as members of the PLO.”

A senior Israeli official said earlier that Israel wants direct negotiations with Jordan and does not much care whether the Palestinians are represented or not. He said Israel is not willing to negotiate with any delegation influenced by the PLO even if none of its members have any PLO affiliation.

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a member of Peres’ Labor Party, took a somewhat more conciliatory line toward the Palestine National Council.

‘No Doubt About It’

“Basically, I would say the PNC is an organization of the PLO--no doubt about it--but I prefer to deal with the individual members (of any negotiating team).”

Rabin said that any of the 1.3 million Palestinian residents of the West Bank or Gaza Strip should be eligible to serve on the delegation. This group includes many PNC members and a substantial number of people closely affiliated with the PLO. He said that Palestinians living outside Israeli-occupied territory should be able to participate only if they are not known members of the PLO.

The declared purpose of Shultz’ visit to Israel was to participate in ceremonies marking the end of World War II. On Friday, he laid a wreath of red and white carnations at the base of a newly dedicated monument to the 1.5 million Jews who fought Nazi Germany as members of allied armies, partisans or resistance fighters. The monument is on the grounds of the Yad Vashem memorial to the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust.

A handful of demonstrators picketed the ceremony to protest President Reagan’s visit to the Bitburg cemetery in West Germany where 49 members of Hitler’s SS are buried. One demonstrator held a poster attacking Shultz for “following the President instead of your conscience” at Bitburg.

No Reconciliation

In introducing Shultz at the ceremony, Yad Vashem President Yitzhak Arad said, “We believe there can never be reconciliation with the criminal acts of the SS.”

In his speech, Shultz did not mention the Bitburg controversy, but he pledged that humanity will never permit a repetition of Nazi crimes.

“Never again will we fail to confront evil,” Shultz said. “Never again will we appease the aggressor. Never again will we let the Jewish people stand alone against persecution and oppression. Today, we honor that pledge by standing beside the state of Israel. We honor that pledge when we, with the people of Israel, reach out to save Ethiopian Jewry. We honor that pledge when we work tirelessly to help Soviet Jewry--and other minorities--against the Soviet regime’s systematic persecution.”