Jordan Arms Sale Shelved Pending Talks With Israel

The Republican-controlled Senate, with President Reagan’s reluctant permission, voted 97 to 1 today to shelve the controversial $1.9-billion arms sale to Jordan until March 1 unless Jordan and Israel open meaningful peace talks before then.

With the Republican leadership telling Reagan that defeat was inevitable, the President agreed Wednesday to the 120-day delay, Senate sources said.

The GOP leaders had told the Administration that they would move on their own to delay action on the sale in order to head off a resolution that would bar it outright. (Story on Page 13.)

Only Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) voted against the delay, and he did so on procedural grounds. Absent were Sens. Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) and Mark O. Hatfield (R-Ore.).

Shortly before the vote, Jordan’s King Hussein told reporters in Amman that the conditions and delay imposed by the Senate were unacceptable and akin to blackmail.

“I hope the king didn’t say that,” said Senate Republican Leader Bob Dole of Kansas. “It just isn’t true.”

“We are not trying to blackmail anyone,” Dole said. “We are keeping open a window of opportunity.”

Needed More Time

And Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Senate that the resolution is intended “to let people have a little more time, to give peace a chance.”

Hussein said that the arms sale is intended only to meet Jordan’s defense needs and is not linked in any way to the peace process.

“One wouldn’t like to use the word blackmail, but it’s totally unacceptable,” he said. “Obviously it’s not a way to deal with problems among friends.”

Hussein met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Amman for four hours today to discuss new Israeli peace proposals and a possible reevaluation of relations with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

The presidential palace said in a statement that the two leaders discussed ways of improving Arab solidarity and the effect of recent developments in the region “on political moves in the service of the Palestinian issue.”

Neither Hussein nor Mubarak spoke to reporters after their meeting.

Egyptian officials said before the meeting that the two would discuss the search for peace in light of an offer by Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres to begin talks with Hussein by the end of this year.