U.S. Makes a New Mideast Peace Bid : Concern Over Palestinian Unrest Prompts Effort to Break Deadlock

Concerned over nearly two months of violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, the United States has launched a major new effort to break a six-year-old deadlock in the Middle East peace process, officials here and in Washington said Sunday.

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said that American officials now “are in very active discussions with the key parties--with the Israelis, with the Jordanians, with the Egyptians and, in a lesser way, with the Palestinian leaders.”

Israeli reports said that the American initiative involves specific new proposals for limited Palestinian autonomy in the occupied territories during a four-year transition period plus the opening of negotiations for a firm solution to the problem of the disputed region in as little as one year.

More Emphasis on Substance

Shultz said that Washington’s effort is aimed at shifting the emphasis away from procedures for arranging an international peace conference and toward “the substance of what can be done right now to help the situation on the West Bank and Gaza quickly.”

Furthermore, he said in a U.S. television appearance, the United States wants to explore the ultimate question of what might be “a sensible outcome in the long run.”

Israel’s government ministers were briefed on the initiative at their regular meeting Sunday. Officials said that the Cabinet, long divided over the appropriate approach to the peace process, gave cautious approval to the new American proposals.

“I’m pleased that the United States at last took an initiative, and I hope very much that some movement would take place concerning the future of the territories and their relation with the state of Israel,” Economic Planning Minister Gad Yaacobi commented after the Cabinet meeting.

Washington’s initiative follows weeks of criticism by foreign leaders of American policy in the Middle East.

Too Passive a Role

Since the violent outbreak of unrest in the Israeli-occupied territories Dec. 9, officials in both Israel and Egypt, as well as British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, have all complained that the United States was playing too passive a role in the Middle East and doing little or nothing to get peace talks started between Israel and Arab leaders.

One high-ranking State Department official said this weekend that the United States has decided that the unrest in the Israeli-held territories can be viewed as an “opportunity”--one that might prompt all parties in the Middle East to re-examine long-held positions.

“Certainly, at least since last spring, this is the first time you have all of the parties in the Middle East trying to seek negotiations again,” another State Department official said Sunday.

Promise of Coordination

Here in Jerusalem, Israel Radio quoted Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir as telling the Cabinet that Washington has promised to coordinate all of its Middle East peace moves with Israel. Shamir, who has long been considered the prime advocate here of the status quo in the territories, promised the other members of the Cabinet that there would be “no surprises.”

The Reagan Administration confirmed Saturday that President Reagan had sent his former Middle East envoy, Philip C. Habib, to Jordan for discussions with King Hussein and Jordanian Prime Minister Zaid Rifai. He is reported to have given them a letter with a message from President Reagan about recent unrest in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

During the last week, Reagan and Shultz have also met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who came to Washington on a state visit, and Shultz has talked with two Palestinian leaders from the Israeli-held territories.

Habib returned to Washington from Jordan on Sunday.

Depends on Hussein

Shamir told his fellow ministers here that only if the Jordanian monarch gives his approval will the Israeli Cabinet hold a full-scale political debate on the U.S. initiative.

Hussein has previously rejected any autonomy scheme, and it was not clear whether the accelerated autonomy program suggested by Washington, combined with the promise of an early beginning to talks about a final disposition for the occupied territories, will change his mind.

Hussein advocates the convening of an international Middle East peace conference under the auspices of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council. But Israel’s so-called “national unity” coalition government is stalemated over that approach. The Palestinians have also traditionally rejected various autonomy schemes as a ploy intended to block them from gaining genuine self-determination and a state of their own.

The 1978 Camp David accords, which led to a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, called for five years of Palestinian autonomy followed by negotiation of a permanent settlement in the territories. However, that scheme was rejected by virtually the entire Arab world, and preliminary autonomy talks got nowhere. The whole process ground to a halt and was overtaken by Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon.

Blocked Since 1984

Almost since the day that the current Israeli coalition government took office in September, 1984, the debate over an international conference has blocked any progress in the peace process.

The new American approach would set aside the procedural problems and try instead to find enough agreement on substance to jolt the process off dead center.

Israel Radio quoted Foreign Minister Shimon Peres on Sunday as saying that the American plan calls for four instead of five years of Palestinian autonomy in the occupied territories and early negotiations on the final status of the areas. Those negotiations, Peres added, could have an “international opening”--an obvious gesture toward Hussein’s position.

Appearing on ABC’s “This Week With David Brinkley,” Shultz acknowledged that in the past, American policy in the Middle East has failed because it has been overly preoccupied with questions about the procedures for getting parties to meet with one another.

Too Much Stress on Process

“What I think we are seeking is that somehow the discussion about what should go on in the Middle East has been dominated by discussion of a process,” the secretary said. “Should we have an international conference? Should we have direct negotiations or what? And we see these processes going nowhere, because there’s no substance.”

The current approach will be to focus on “substance,” Shultz said, adding, “Maybe, if we can find a better understanding about the substance, then the procedural arguments will seem less important, and we’ll be able to proceed.”

The secretary did not define what he meant by “substance.” But in a separate television appearance Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Lt. Gen. Colin L. Powell, Reagan’s national security adviser, suggested, “We might be able to start something with respect to transitional arrangements in the West Bank and Gaza, and some discussion of final status (for these territories).”

Autonomy as Interim Step

According to Israel’s Hebrew-language Maariv newspaper Sunday, the U.S. initiative combines elements of a half-dozen different peace plans from recent years. A key, it said, is that autonomy for the Palestinians in the occupied territories would clearly be labeled as an interim measure. It would be combined with agreement that a long-range settlement would include the principle of territorial compromise, in which Israel would give up its sovereignty over at least part of the occupied areas, the newspaper said.

Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt in the Six-Day War of 1967.

It is believed that the Arab side will not agree to take part in any autonomy process without a guarantee that it will ultimately lead to territorial compromise. Finding a formula to do that may yet prove beyond Washington’s abilities, given the platform of Shamir’s Likud Bloc, which calls for Israel to retain its hold on all of the West Bank and Gaza.

Both Halves Opposed

Both halves of the Israeli government oppose creation of any independent Palestinian state, which they say would be a threat to Israeli security. Also, a cornerstone of their coalition agreement is that they will not negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization, which the Arabs call the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

U.S. officials emphasized Sunday that the current efforts are still in the exploratory stage. “I’m trying not to draw any broad conclusions, because there are so many pitfalls,” one State Department official said.

But national security adviser Powell indicated that the Administration had decided it was important to come up with a new initiative. “The one thing we have all agreed upon is that the status quo can’t continue,” he said.

Dan Fisher reported from Jerusalem and Jim Mann from Washington.