U.S. to Check Palestinian List for Talks

The United States this week will begin examining a list of Palestinians who have been recommended to take part in setting up Middle East negotiations with Israel, the State Department said Monday.

Spokesman Bob Smalley confirmed that the United States received from the Jordanian government a list of Palestinians who might form part of a mixed delegation with Jordan.

No decisions are expected on the list until Secretary of State George P. Shultz and Assistant Secretary of State Richard W. Murphy return to Washington late this week. Shultz is on a Pacific trip, and Murphy is vacationing on Nantucket Island.

Smalley would not disclose the names on the list or their total. Reports from the Middle East indicated that more than 10 names were given to the U.S. Embassy in Amman. Some of the Palestinians--probably no more than three--would join Jordanian representatives to form a joint delegation that would then meet with a group of Americans.

U.S. officials presume that the list was prepared by Jordan in consultation with Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

Under the framework laid out by Shultz in recent statements, Murphy would probably meet the joint delegation to discuss the aims and ground rules for a face-to-face meeting with Israeli officials on the future of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. In the actual negotiations, the United States is not expected to play a direct role.

The United States has said it would support an arrangement in which the West Bank and Gaza would become a Palestinian homeland in association with Jordan. The Jordanian government has also accepted that idea in principle. The government of Israel has not agreed to that specific idea but has said it would be prepared to meet Jordanians and Palestinians to discuss the peace process as long as the Palestinians are not known or declared members of the PLO, which Israel considers a terrorist organization.

As outlined by Shultz, the delegation that would meet with Murphy and other U.S. officials this summer somewhere in the Middle East would not necessarily be the same delegation that would negotiate later with Israel.

Shultz said on May 31 that the United States hopes that the delegation will consist of “people of good will, who are thoughtful and responsible and are truly dedicated to nonviolent negotiated solutions and are truly ready to strive for peace with Israel.”

The United States does not negotiate with the PLO because that organization refuses to recognize Israel. However, Washington would not object if the list includes members of the Palestine National Council, which functions as a sort of parliament for the Palestinians.