Shamir to Insist Plan Be Revised : American Jews to Urge OK on Peace Package

When Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir of Israel lands in New York about dawn Monday after an all-night flight from Tel Aviv, he will be met by U.S. Jewish leaders who are determined to waste no time warning him that he could damage Israel’s cherished relationship with the United States by rejecting the latest U.S. Middle East peace initiative.

The Jewish leaders decided to deliver their message before Shamir has an opportunity to talk to Reagan Administration officials, because they want to make sure that the Israeli prime minister does not underestimate the level of concern in the United States over continuing turmoil in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, according to Jewish community sources.

Same Refrain From Congress

When Shamir reaches Washington, he can expect to hear much the same refrain from the Administration and usually friendly senators and House members.

For Shamir, who has made no secret of his objections to key parts of the peace plan, which Secretary of State George P. Shultz formally unveiled to Israel more than a week ago, the U.S. visit is shaping up as a tense and contentious one. But it is by no means clear that the U.S. reaction will be enough to persuade Shamir to soften his opposition to the Shultz plan. And although Israel’s iron fist policy in the West Bank and Gaza Strip remains widely unpopular in the United States, the backlash that clearly was building earlier this month may already have run its course.

Many of Israel’s traditional American friends were shocked by Shamir’s scornful dismissal of the Shultz plan, which they considered a reasonable attempt to find a compromise between Arabs and Israelis. Shamir says he might accept the plan if Shultz agrees to make major changes in it, but the secretary of state maintains that changes would destroy the careful balance of the plan, which is designed to appeal to all sides in the controversy.

Before he left Israel, Shamir told the daily newspaper Haaretz, “The only word I approve of in the Shultz document is his signature.” That prompted an Administration official to remark, “The Arabs are probably very happy with the comments out of Yitzhak Shamir.”

Prefer Arabs Take Heat

If, indeed, Arab leaders are pleased with Shamir’s remarks, it is because they, too, have reservations about the American plan and would prefer to see Israel take the heat for killing it. Many of Israel’s traditional American friends hope to make much the same point to Shamir, reminding him that no Arab party has yet accepted the plan and advising him that, from a tactical standpoint, it would be far better for Israeli-American relations if the Arabs were ultimately seen as the obstacles to a peace settlement.

In previous years, Israeli leaders have been able to deflect criticism from both Republican and Democratic administrations by pointing to Israel’s strong support on Capitol Hill. But, this time, the Shultz plan seems to enjoy broad bipartisan backing.

“Many senators and congressmen want to make sure that Shamir realizes he can’t play off fervent supporters of Israel on the Hill against the Administration,” said one congressional staffer known for his strong support of Israel. “They want to show that there is no friendly crowd to run to.”

“The essential message that will be communicated to Shamir by people that have been Israel’s closest friends in the Congress is the importance of keeping this peace process on track and helping Secretary Shultz succeed in the direction he has charted,” said California Rep. Mel Levine (D-Santa Monica).

Shamir ‘Has to Be Prodded’

“I think Shultz is to be congratulated,” said Burton S. Levinson, national chairman of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith. “I agree that the prime minister has to be prodded, and I think Shultz is going about it in the right way.”

But Levinson quickly added that criticism of Israel, most of it generated by television film of Israeli troops beating Palestinian demonstrators in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, has gone too far.

“What we are observing in the ADL is that there is a broad spectrum of people involved in Jewish institutional life that is pausing for a moment and wondering if the condemnation of Shamir and Israeli policies is fair,” Levinson said. “People probably will give Shamir and his viewpoint some opportunity to play it out.”

The Shultz proposal aims at a comprehensive peace treaty that would finally end the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. Although that conflict saw only six days of intense combat, a technical state of war between Israel and most Arab states has persisted for almost 21 years. Only Egypt has signed a peace treaty with Israel.

Shultz said his initiative is based on U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, which call on Israel to withdraw from the West Bank and Gaza Strip territories it captured in 1967 in exchange for formal recognition by the Arab states of its right to live in peace within secure boundaries.

Long-Term Security

Shultz hopes to convince Israel that the long-term security of the Jewish state would be improved if it ended its military occupation of the territories and stopped trying to control the 1.4 million Palestinian residents who live there.

“Israel needs to focus on the fact that (in the West Bank and Gaza Strip) there is a very large, ticking demographic time bomb,” Shultz said. “Many people, who are disenfranchised, are there and must be dealt with. The longer it goes on unattended, the more difficult it will be.”

His proposal faces evident obstacles in the Middle East, but Shultz clearly has bipartisan backing at home. Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.), a frequent critic of Administration foreign policy, assured the secretary during a House subcommittee hearing last week that his Middle East peace effort enjoys strong support on Capitol Hill.