Israel Refuses to Back U.S. Peace Plan : Shamir Assailed by Peres for Rejecting ‘Historic Opportunity’

Led by Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Israel’s divided government today refused to endorse a U.S. plan designed to end more than three months of violence in the Israeli-occupied lands.

Troops killed three Arabs and wounded 10 others in “Palestinian Martyrs’ Day” clashes that were accompanied by a general strike. The day was called to honor the Arabs killed since the anti-occupation unrest began Dec. 8.

The deaths brought the confirmed death toll from the rioting to 87.

An aide to Shamir said the prime minister will try to persuade U.S. leaders in Washington next week to scrap their new Middle East peace initiative as dangerous to both countries.

Camp David Accord Liked

“The first priority is to get the Americans to drop the plan, which is a danger to both countries, and to return to the good old Camp David agreements which are in the best interests of both countries,” said the official, who demanded anonymity.

“The best thing would be if they put the whole plan aside. But we have to be practical and realize they will probably not drop it as a whole, so we will have to see about changes and we know they are ready to make changes,” he said.

The aide spoke after Shamir successfully defeated attempts by the left-of-center Labor Party to force a vote in the 10-member inner Cabinet on a peace plan offered by U.S. Secretary of State George P. Shultz.

‘Historic Opportunity’

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who has accepted the Shultz plan, attacked Shamir’s refusal in a speech in Parliament.

“We might miss this historic opportunity, and we won’t have an answer, not for our generation and not for those to come, as to why we became afraid of peace,” said Peres, leader of the Labor Party. “Why did we reject the outstretched hand because of imaginary fears?’

Ezer Weizman, a Labor minister-without-portfolio, said “the government is split 50-50” over the U.S. peace plan.

Shultz, who brought the peace initiative to the Arab and Israeli leaders last week, had asked Shamir to bring Israel’s response to Washington for talks with President Reagan on March 14. Labor leaders had hoped to commit Shamir to accept before he left.

Most U.S. Ideas Opposed

Shamir’s spokesman, Yossi Ahimeir, said the prime minister “opposed most of the ideas” in the U.S. plan and sought to talk the Americans into making changes.

Shamir, leader of the right-wing Likud Bloc, objects to Shultz’s call for an international conference by May 1. He also opposes a proposal that talks on the final status of the occupied lands begin in December, even if agreement had not been reached on Palestinian self-rule.

Ahimeir said that for the first time, Shamir will suggest an agreement with Jordan on a step-by-step plan for implementing self-rule quickly in a limited area of the West Bank or Gaza.

“The idea is to make autonomy work in a limited area such as Nablus or Hebron and then enlarge it until it is in force in all of the territories,” Ahimeir said.