U.S. Critical of Israel’s Reaction to Arab Panel

The State Department on Thursday criticized Israel’s apparent rejection of a list of proposed Palestinian delegates to Mideast peace talks, saying countries should “not react to each individual event” in preparations for negotiations.

Spokesman Robert Smalley said the United States will consult with Israel before entering into preparatory talks with the Palestinians but added that there will be no Israeli veto over the U.S. decision to proceed with the talks.

At the same time, he noted that the United States has not yet decided whether to actually meet with the Palestinians and said such a meeting would be held only if it would pave the way for direct talks between the Arabs and Israel.

“Progress toward direct negotiations will be the criterion by which we will judge the utility of any particular step,” Smalley said. “If something will help the process, we will do it. If it will hinder the goal of direct negotiations, that, obviously, is something we will try to avoid.

‘Steps Along the Way’

“There will be many incremental steps along the way as this process unfolds,” he said. “We should all try to step back a bit and not react to each individual event or occurrence as if it were somehow outside the process.”

Another State Department official said the statement was aimed at calming the atmosphere in Israel, where the list of proposed Palestinian negotiators--intended to remain secret--was quickly leaked to the press and turned into a political football.

Some Israeli leaders have objected to the idea of U.S. preparatory talks with the Palestinians because they fear that such negotiations might legitimize the Palestine Liberation Organization without forcing the guerrilla group to first recognize Israel.

Prime Minister Shimon Peres called the list “a bad opening move.” And Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Peres’ main political rival but partner in a fragile coalition government, rejected the entire idea of U.S.-Arab talks, saying they “will not lead to peace.”

Process Still Alive

Despite the furor in Israel, State Department officials said they believe the negotiating process is still very much alive.

“Peres didn’t reject the list categorically,” said one. “We still have a situation in which there is agreement on both sides on where we are and where we want to go.”

The list of seven names was drawn up by Jordan’s King Hussein and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, given to the State Department last week and passed on to Peres on Wednesday by the U.S. charge d’affaires in Tel Aviv. U.S. officials have declined to publicly name the people on the list.

The Palestinian candidates were proposed as members of a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation that could meet with Assistant Secretary of State Richard W. Murphy to discuss ways to open direct Arab-Israel peace talks.

Four of the seven are high officials in the PLO, with which both Israel and the United States have refused to deal directly.

But the other three, one State Department official suggested, could turn out to be acceptable to the United States and the Israelis.

“The problem is, now that those names are in the public domain, it’s going to be more difficult to pick and choose,” he said. “I’d hate to be one of those Palestinians who’s being publicly named as moderate enough for the United States. It may make it impossible for them to participate--which may be the intent of whoever leaked the names.”