Peace Plan Still Alive--Peres

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told Secretary of State George P. Shultz today that his Middle East peace plan is “very much alive” despite a split in Israel’s coalition government.

Though Peres strongly supports the idea of an international peace conference to oversee new Arab-Israeli negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir is opposed. “I think it’s very much alive,” Peres said. “I think there is room for ingenuity and, despite the many obstacles we are facing, there are ways and means to make some progress.” Shultz met Peres while the Israeli minister was here for the opening of the General Assembly.