Israel Will Consider Any Jordan Plan, Peres Says

Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, after meeting with President Reagan on Thursday, said his government is “ready to take bold steps” in the search for Middle East peace--but he left no doubt that Israel expects Jordan to make the next move.

“With our hand of peace extended across the Jordan River, we call upon our eastern neighbor to heed and accept this sincere invitation,” Peres said.

He added: “We are ready to meet without preconditions, without losing time, at any suitable location--be it in Amman, in Jerusalem or Washington. We are prepared to consider any proposal put forward by the Jordanians.”

Unattractive Offer

Peres and former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, the current foreign minister, frequently have called on Jordan’s King Hussein to begin peace talks, but Hussein always has found the offer unattractive because it offers no role to the Palestinians.

Israel wants direct one-on-one talks with Jordan, while Jordan wants a much wider conference with full representation for the Palestinians and participation by other Arab states and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.

By repeating the plan at the White House door with Reagan at his side, Peres clearly hoped to put new pressure on Hussein to accept. However, the Israeli prime minister did nothing to make the offer more palatable to Amman.

And, in spite of his promise to consider any proposal, Peres left no doubt that Jordan’s formula for peace talks remains unacceptable to Jerusalem.

Terrorism Denounced

In the wake of the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro and the killing of an American passenger by four Palestinian terrorists allied to the PLO, Reagan joined Peres in a pointed denunciation of terrorism. In addition, Secretary of State George P. Shultz echoed the Israeli position in blaming the Palestine Liberation Organization directly for terrorist acts.

“We discussed the evil scourge of terrorism which has claimed so many Israeli, American and Arab victims and has brought tragedy to many others,” Reagan said. “Terrorism is the cynical, remorseless enemy of peace and it strikes most viciously whenever real progress seems possible.”

But Peres apparently failed in his effort to persuade the U.S. government that the PLO should be classed forever as an outlaw organization.

Shultz declared that “PLO terrorist activity has been distressingly on display. . . . Those who engage in terror and violence have no place at the peace table.” But he also said the United States continues to believe that “credible” Palestinians must be included in the negotiations “to cut a deal.”

Conditions for PLO Unchanged

Later, a senior U.S. official said that Washington’s conditions for formal dealings with the PLO are unchanged, despite the Achille Lauro incident. For a decade, the United States has said it will talk to the PLO only if the organization renounces violence and accepts key United Nations resolutions that call for the recognition of Israel’s right to exist.

Shultz ran into a storm of opposition from lawmakers friendly to Israel on Thursday when he urged the House Foreign Affairs Committee to approve the Administration’s plan to sell $1.9 billion worth of arms to Jordan.

Several committee members urged Shultz to withdraw the proposal and avoid a fight that they predicted the Administration would lose, but the secretary of state refused to back away.

Shultz said that rejection of the arms package might seriously damage the chances for peace by sending a signal to Amman “that the United States does not fully support the king’s peace efforts.”

A senior U.S. official said Reagan made much the same point to Peres during their private meeting. However, he said, Israel did not modify its opposition to the Jordanian arms package.