Shamir, Peres Split on Egypt’s Peace Initiative

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres split today on whether to endorse Egypt’s call for a new peace initiative and for a moratorium on Jewish settlement building in the occupied territories.

There were also reports of scattered anti-occupation violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has called on Palestinians to observe a six-month ban on anti-Israeli violence, and urged Israel to halt settlement building in the territories over the same time span. He says such conditions would set the stage for an international peace conference.

Propaganda Forum

“An international conference will not serve the cause of peace,” Shamir told reporters today. “It will be a stage for anti-Israeli propaganda, and not a framework for serious negotiations between the parties. It will be an attempt to dictate, to impose solutions.”

But Peres, a liberal rival of Shamir in the coalition government, welcomed the thrust of Mubarak’s call.

“I welcome the Mubarak initiative as a step in the right direction,” he said in a statement issued by the Foreign Ministry. “The call for an immediate end to all violent activity is most positive.”

International Force Opposed

An official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Peres did not accept all points in Mubarak’s plan. For example, he opposes creating “an international mechanism”--perhaps a greater U.N. presence--to safeguard and protect Palestinians living under occupation and does not accept language referring to Palestinian “political rights.”

Cabinet Secretary Elyakim Rubenstein flew to the United States today for talks with U.S. officials, and Israel radio said he would give Shamir’s response to recent Middle East peace proposals.

Meanwhile, the Arab-run Palestine Press Service reported disturbances in the West Bank and Gaza, saying one Palestinian was shot and wounded by a rubber bullet. It said protesters burned tires and stoned soldiers in Hebron, 20 miles south of Jerusalem.

Reporters saw soldiers use sledgehammers and crowbars to open shops in Gaza City and the West Bank to try to end a lingering strike of Arab merchants.