Soviet-Israeli Talks Planned : Moscow Initiates First Formal Contact Since ’67

In their first such formal contact in nearly 20 years, Soviet and Israeli delegations are to meet in an unspecified European capital within the next few weeks to discuss consular issues, Israeli government officials said Friday.

The meeting, which the officials said was initiated by the Soviets, appears to be the most significant development to date in a series of gestures and contacts between the two countries since Mikhail S. Gorbachev was named Kremlin leader last year.

The meeting has set off speculation in some circles here that the Soviets may be considering re-establishing a diplomatic relationship with Israel and seeking a role for itself in the Middle East peace process.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ehud Gol confirmed that Prime Minister Shimon Peres met Friday morning with Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir to discuss “contacts in the near future between Israeli and Soviet representatives on consular issues.” But he refused to provide further details.

However, other Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the meeting follows several unofficial contacts in recent months between Israeli and Soviet diplomats stationed in Europe. They said it would involve “middle-ranking” officials and that the discussions are expected to touch on property in Jerusalem owned by the Russian Orthodox Church as well as other subjects.

The officials were divided in their assessments of this and earlier Soviet contacts.

Sources in Peres’ office said that, while Soviet intentions are still unclear, they view Moscow’s moves as possible trial balloons to probe the prospects and problems of resuming some sort of formal diplomatic relationship with Israel.

Below Embassy Level

Israel radio’s diplomatic correspondent reported Friday that the forthcoming talks are aimed at establishing diplomatic ties at the consular level, which is a notch below the opening of embassies and the full range of contacts that accompany them.

The Soviet Union was one of the first nations to officially recognize the Jewish state when it was founded, but the Kremlin and all of its East Bloc allies except maverick Romania broke relations with Israel after the 1967 Six-Day War.

While there have been informal contacts between representatives of the two governments since then, including a meeting of foreign ministers at the United Nations in 1984, Foreign Ministry sources here said the upcoming meeting will be the first involving official delegations since 1967.

Even though it has since become a major arms supplier and political supporter to some of Israel’s most intransigent Arab foes, Moscow’s Mideast fortunes have generally sagged since the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s dramatic journey to Jerusalem in 1977. In the wake of that visit and the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty that followed, Washington has been the principal power broker in the region, while the Kremlin has been reduced to the role of spoiler.

Key to Peace

Some senior Israeli officials admit privately, however, that they see no way that a truly comprehensive peace in the region can be attained without Soviet involvement. And Peres has said that he would drop Israeli objections to the Soviets’ participation in a Middle East peace conference if Moscow would resume relations with Jerusalem.

The most optimistic view of the recent Soviet overtures is that a newly aggressive and confident Kremlin leadership under Gorbachev may be willing to mend the old rupture in a bid to re-establish itself as a major player in this key region of the world.

The Soviets last month proposed a preliminary Middle East peace conference involving the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Washington rejected the initiative as “posturing.”

Foreign Ministry officials were much more cautious in their assessment of the latest Kremlin move than their counterparts in the prime minister’s office. “We do not see this in any way as being connected with the peace process or the resumption of Israeli-Soviet relations,” one official said.

Church Dispute

Two weeks ago, Foreign Ministry officials confirmed an Israel radio report that the Soviets wanted to hold talks about the status of Russian Orthodox Church property in Jerusalem, established before the 1917 Russian Revolution. There is a dispute over the property between the Communist-controlled, official branch of the church and the anti-Soviet Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.

At the time, the officials branded as “far-fetched” suggestions that the Soviet initiative indicated that Moscow is interested in reopening a political dialogue with Israel.

Soviet interests in Israel have been handled by the Finnish government since the 1967 rupture, and the Netherlands takes care of Israel’s interests in Moscow. Officials here offered no explanation why such existing channels would suddenly be inadequate to handle the so-called “consular issues” to be raised in the meeting of the two delegations.

Galia Golan, a Hebrew University Soviet affairs expert, said she considers it “nonsense” that the Kremlin was motivated by concern over property in Jerusalem.

‘A Very Nice Cover’

“It may be put out in that sense--they can say ‘we have economic interests and therefore we should have a consular relationship,’ ” Golan said. “That would be a nice official way to fob off the Arabs. . . . That might be a very nice cover to throw out.”

Israel and Poland, a member of the Warsaw Pact, have already agreed to exchange diplomatic representatives. Jerusalem has named Mordechai Paltzur, former ambassador to the Dominican Republic, to become “interest officer” in Warsaw. He will work out of the pre-1967 Israeli Embassy in the Polish capital, according to Foreign Ministry sources. His Polish counterpart will work out of the Tel Aviv branch of the Polish bank PKO.

An Israeli Foreign Ministry official was in Warsaw two weeks ago to work out final details of the arrangements, and government sources here said the exchange is expected to be completed this month or next.

Big Question Mark

A major question mark hanging over any prospects of renewed Soviet-Israeli relations is the fate of up to 2 million Soviet Jews, several hundred thousand of whom have reportedly indicated a wish to emigrate.

The already large community of Soviet Jews living in Israel has recently stepped up its pressure on the government over the emigration issue.

The Jerusalem-based Soviet Jewry Education and Information Center two weeks ago issued a statement saying that it “considers seriously the latest hints of the Soviet readiness to re-establish some form of official relations with Israel.” And it demanded that Peres insist on “the release of Soviet Jews before the renewal of official relations.”