U.S. Revises Its Stance on Talking to Terrorists : Negotiations on Hostages Acceptable as Long as Concessions Aren’t Involved, White House Says

The White House, which last week rejected a plea from four American hostages to negotiate with their captors in Lebanon, said Tuesday that it will talk directly with terrorists as long as concessions or blackmail are not involved.

The latest Administration statement, a change in tone that was considered significant here, coincided with an announcement by the Church of England that a special envoy of Robert A.K. Runcie, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will fly to Beirut today to try to win the hostages’ release. Runcie, head of the Anglican Church, is responding to a letter from the hostages that is similar to the one President Reagan received asking assistance in opening negotiations.

The tempered tone appeared to be an invitation to the captors to come forward and talk after last week’s rejection of the hostages’ plea for negotiations.

On Tuesday, White House spokesman Edward P. Djerejian told reporters: “We do not negotiate concessions with terrorists, nor do we give in to ransom or threats of blackmail. But we are prepared to talk with all parties--that includes governments, individuals and even the abductors of American hostages--in an effort to obtain their safe release.”

Djerejian insisted that there is no change in U.S. policy and that the Administration has always been willing to talk directly with terrorists. But one official who spoke on the grounds that he not be identified admitted that the White House wants to demonstrate that “we’re not putting up a stone wall between us and the captors. They should know we’re very willing to talk to them.”

Endorsement by U.S.

The Administration also endorsed the mission sponsored by the archbishop, although U.S. officials refused to link that development to the change in the U.S. stance.

“We have never discouraged any responsible parties from making good-faith efforts to obtain the release of our hostages,” Djerejian said.

Another official conceded that the White House was walking a “kind of a tight wire” in making a distinction between negotiations alone and negotiations that could prompt concessions. But a State Department official said there are indications that the captors holding the four hostages “feel they have grievances, and talking about them may help.”

The Americans are thought to be held by Islamic Jihad (Islamic Holy War), a fundamentalist Shia Muslim group with ties to the government of Iran. In exchange for the hostages’ freedom, Islamic Jihad is demanding the release of 17 of its members held by the government of Kuwait for bombing the U.S. and French embassies there in December, 1983.

The packet of letters that contained the messages for Reagan and the archbishop was tossed from a speeding car last Friday outside the West Beirut offices of the Associated Press. They followed by a day a telephone call to a Middle East news agency claiming that the four Americans had been executed.

Administration officials were heartened by the letters as evidence that the hostages are still alive. The signatures appeared to be authentic and included four of the six missing Americans: Father Lawrence Jenco, a Roman Catholic priest; AP Middle East bureau chief Terry A. Anderson; David P. Jacobsen, of Huntington Beach, Calif., director of the American University of Beirut Hospital, and American University Prof. Thomas Sutherland.

‘Distaste for Bargaining’

“We know of your distaste for bargaining with terrorists,” the four said in their letter to Reagan. “Do you know the consequences your continued refusal will have for us?”

In response to a similar message, Runcie decided to dispatch veteran negotiator Terry Waite to Lebanon. Waite helped win the release of the Rev. Benjamin Weir earlier this year after Weir had been held for 16 months.

Waite also is credited with the release in February of four Britons held in Tripoli for nearly nine months by the forces of Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi. Waite met with Kadafi last Christmas in a Bedouin tent in Tripoli to arrange the diplomatic coup.

Often referred to as the “Church of England’s Henry Kissinger” because of his tough negotiating skills, Waite said in a statement released by the church that he was in contact with the group holding the American hostages and that he had reason to believe that a visit to Beirut would be “worthwhile” at this time.

No Word on Contact

Asked if the Administration is currently talking to any of the abductors, White House spokesman Djerejian replied, “Not to my knowledge, no.”

When the families of the hostages visited Reagan last month, they were told that the Administration was pursuing every avenue, including direct contact with the terrorist kidnapers. But in their haste to disavow even the appearance of bowing to pressure from terrorists, officials gave the impression in their public statements that talking to the captors of American hostages was in itself a concession.

With the archbishop’s mission and a renewed public spotlight on the hostages, Administration officials are anxious to correct any impression that they may have been callous in their approach.

“We’re taking opportunities as they arise to create opportunities,” one State Department official said. “I wouldn’t want to lead you into a story that the millennium is coming, but I wouldn’t want to suggest this is the same old stuff, either. Anything is possible.”