Mubarak Challenges Israel to Back Peace Conference

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, on the eve of a visit to the United States, challenged Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir on Thursday to “put the Arabs in a corner” by accepting the principle of an international peace conference on the Middle East.

He also called upon the Reagan Administration to join him in launching a “new initiative” to restart the stalled peace process, saying that the current revolt against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip shows the situation cannot be allowed to drift until a new administration takes charge in Washington.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Times before his departure for Europe and the United States, Mubarak sketched some of the ideas he said he will be raising with President Reagan when they confer next Thursday at the White House in their first meeting in more than two years.

He indicated that relations between the two countries have improved since his last visit to Washington in September, 1985, thanks in part to U.S. efforts to help Egypt reschedule some of its $44 billion in debts--efforts he said have helped to “increase Egypt’s confidence in the United States.”

However, Mubarak made it clear he wants the Reagan Administration to do more than it has in the past to support the convening of an international Middle East peace conference, which in Egypt’s view, he said, is still “the best way and the only way” to achieve a comprehensive peace settlement between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

The Egyptian leader also made these other points during the interview:

-- Egypt believes that the United States should expand its naval role in the Persian Gulf to protect any civilian ships attacked in international waters. “You are protecting ships (flying) the U.S. flag,” the president said. “But if you see another ship being attacked by Iran, you just watch. This is a shame.”

-- Egypt sees no need to send troops to bolster the security of Kuwait or other gulf states that feel threatened by Iran but remains committed to their defense and will do “whatever is needed.”

-- Egypt is also committed to carrying out painful economic reforms demanded by its international lenders but will do so only at a pace that does not “put more pressure on the people than they can bear.”

While Mubarak said all these issues will figure prominently in his Washington talks, he stressed that the peace process is at the top of his agenda.

‘Role Must Be Clearer’

“I am going there (to Washington) just to try to find a formula for the international conference,” Mubarak said. “We consider the United States to be a main partner in the peace process, but he (Reagan) should be much more active. His role must be clearer and more decisive concerning the peace process.”

Mubarak referred during the interview to the “new initiative I am thinking of launching to reactivate the peace process.” He did not give details but indicated that it would involve an appeal to Israel for a freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip as one means of defusing the rising tensions there.

He also said he envisions a period of “at least six months” to work out the details of an international conference once the Israelis have agreed to it.

Jordan, Syria and the Palestine Liberation Organization have all insisted that negotiations with Israel be within the framework of an international conference, sponsored by the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. Shamir adamantly opposes this, fearing that it will only lead to pressure on Israel to cede more than it is willing to give.

Umbrella of Legitimacy

But Mubarak, saying that “no one is going to impose a solution on anyone else,” reiterated that the main purpose of the conference would be to provide an umbrella of legitimacy for the subsequent bilateral negotiations favored by Israel.

“Why should the Israelis fear an international conference?” Mubarak asked. “It is not going to bite them. . . . Direct talks, for sure, are going to start. The problem of the Golan (Heights) will then be between the Israelis and the Syrians, and the problem of Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza will be between the Israelis and the Jordanians, having some Palestinians in their delegation.”

Noting that Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres agreed to the principle of an international conference when he was prime minister, Mubarak appealed to Shamir to honor his predecessor’s commitment. However, he added that so far the Israeli leader has shown “no flexibility” on the issue despite several exchanges of messages on the subject.

“The initiative now lies with Israel. . . . I’m telling them to put us in a corner,” Mubarak said. “You, Shamir, put the Arabs in a corner. Say you agree to an international conference.”

‘Kick the Ball Back’

If this happens, he said, it would “kick the ball back into our court” and it would then be up to the Arabs to work out the equally contentious issue of how to bring the Palestinians into the peace talks in a way that would be acceptable to Israel, which denounces the Palestine Liberation Organization as a terrorist organization and has refused to negotiate with it.

It was not clear if Mubarak, as part of his “new initiative,” was alluding to a possible trade-off with the Israelis--more Arab flexibility on the question of Palestinian representation in return for an agreement to attend an international conference.

However, the president played down the issue of Palestinian representation, expressing confidence that it could be resolved once Shamir agreed to an international conference.

“All the other problems will be solved after that, for everybody will be eager for the peace process to go forward,” he said. “It will give hope to all the parties, (especially) to those people who are suffering in the West Bank and Gaza. It will relax the whole situation, and the other problems will be resolved more smoothly.”

Not the Major Issue

Mubarak said Egypt still believes that the best way for the Palestinians to be represented at peace talks is as part of a Jordanian delegation. He affirmed Egypt’s belief that the Palestinians must have “the right to determine their own future,” but, either by accident or design, he gave the impression that the question of PLO participation is not the major issue.

Elaborating at one point on the composition of an international conference, he listed participants as “the five permanent members of the Security Council, Israel, the Jordanians, the Egyptians, the Syrians and the Lebanese,” adding, “Who else?”

When one of his aides said, “The Palestinians, Mr. President,” Mubarak replied, “Oh yes, the Palestinians. We can’t forget them.”

Mubarak--who has just returned from a whirlwind tour of Persian Gulf Arab states that are resuming the diplomatic relations they severed with Egypt when it signed its peace treaty with Israel in 1979--appeared relaxed and in a buoyant mood throughout the interview, conducted in a large reception room in the palatial presidential office complex in suburban Cairo. He spoke in English.

‘Bad for Your Reputation’

Mubarak said he did not see any hope of ending the Iran-Iraq War in the near future but called the U.S. presence in the Persian Gulf “helpful” to the containment of tensions there. Despite his pessimism about peace prospects, he expressed both the belief and the hope that the United States will not withdraw its naval forces from the gulf because: “If you do so, it will be very bad for your reputation. . . . You will lose a lot.”

Other than ruling out the dispatch of Egyptian troops, he refused to discuss details of the additional military assistance that Egypt is expected to provide to the gulf states, primarily in air defense. “If they need anything, we’re going to do it,” he said. “But I’m not going to show my cards now.”

On the question of military cooperation with the United States, he said he hopes Congress will approve a request, to be submitted by the Reagan Administration shortly, to allow Egypt to co-produce the M1-A1 Abrams, the most advanced tank in the U.S. arsenal.

Critics have charged that the deal may result in the transfer of sensitive military technology to the Egyptians, who can, in any case, buy the M1-A1 from the United States for about 30% less than it may end up costing them if they co-produce it.

Having Second Thoughts

Mubarak, in the first indication that Egypt may be having second thoughts about the deal, said that if co-production “is very expensive, then I think we will not do it.” However, he suggested that approval is important to show the Arabs that it is not only Israel with which the United States is willing to enter into advanced military production agreements.