Hussein Insists on PLO Role in Mideast Talks, Top Israelis Told; Peace Process Near Stalemate

Efforts to get new Mideast peace talks under way appeared near stalemate here Thursday as Assistant Secretary of State Richard W. Murphy told top Israeli leaders that Jordan’s King Hussein continues to insist on a role for the Palestine Liberation Organization in all stages of the negotiating process.

Sources close to the diplomatic maneuvering, however, said Murphy is considering a return to Amman for more contacts early next week depending in part on what emerges from a second meeting he is tentatively scheduled to have this morning with Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

Murphy met here Thursday afternoon with both Peres and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir to brief them on discussions he had with Hussein and other officials in Amman concerning the monarch’s proposal for preliminary peace talks between Washington and a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation.

No Flexibility Seen

According to sources on both sides of Thursday’s meetings, Murphy said he found no flexibility in Hussein’s position on central features of his initiative, which both Israel and the United States consider objectionable.

Asked if the term stalemate applied, a source close to American thinking on Murphy’s mission responded that the word was “too strong, but it’s close.”

A senior Israeli official added: “We thought the whole business about talks without Israel was a non-starter anyway.”

Informed sources said that during a working lunch with Murphy on Wednesday, Hussein reiterated his four-stage formula for peace talks, beginning with U.S. contacts with the joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation. The Jordanian monarch has submitted the names of seven proposed Palestinian delegates for this stage, only two of whom are clearly acceptable to both Jerusalem and Washington. The others are more closely identified with the PLO, with whom both Israel and the United States refuse to negotiate.

In the second stage of Hussein’s plan, Washington would recognize the PLO and enter into a dialogue with it, presumably in conjunction with PLO recognition of Israel’s right to exist within secure borders.

That step would be followed by an international Mideast peace conference including the Soviet Union and Syria, among other nations. The final phase would be direct negotiations between Israel and a joint Jordanian-PLO delegation.

Both the United States and Israel favor direct peace negotiations between Israel and a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation with no connection to the PLO. But unlike Israel, the United States has indicated it is willing to explore interim steps so long as it is convinced that they will ultimately lead to direct peace talks.

According to informed sources, Hussein has been pressing Washington for a formal response to the list of proposed Palestinian delegates for the first stage of talks. Without giving him a final answer, Murphy reportedly expressed U.S. displeasure over several names on the list during Wednesday’s luncheon meeting.

Nonetheless, there were reports from Amman on Thursday that Murphy would be back in the Jordanian capital early next week to meet with at least some of the proposed delegates.

However, informed sources here insisted that Murphy “hasn’t made a decision yet” on returning to Amman, and that he so informed Peres and Shamir.

The two Israel leaders reiterated their opposition to any peace talks that do not involve the direct participation of Israel. Shamir, in a statement meant as a warning both to Murphy and, indirectly, to Hussein, said any cooperation with the PLO “can end bitterly,” according to a Israeli Foreign Ministry official present at Thursday’s meeting.

In the Israeli view, the only party that would gain by the proposed preliminary American talks with the Jordanian-Palestinian delegation would be the PLO.

It is Hussein’s assumption that under certain circumstances, the PLO could be constructive to the peace process, a senior Israeli official said Thursday. But Israel’s position is that “not only can it not play a constructive role--it’s a major obstacle to any realistic solution to the Palestinian problem.”

While Israel has adopted an increasingly uncompromising public position against the Hussein initiative, one source close to the situation hinted that it may be developing some constructive proposals that could keep alive what otherwise appears to be a faltering peace process.

The source would not elaborate, but a senior Israeli official commented, “Maybe if there will be a deadlock we will have to think about a new stage.

“There is still this strange combination of good will as well as severe problems on all sides,” this official added. “So it’s good to continue to meet and talk.”