Shamir Arrives With Revisions of Shultz Plan

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir arrived here today with what he called new ideas for Mideast peace talks and said he would not give a yes-or-no reply to the U.S. blueprint for negotiations with the Arabs during his four-day stay.

Shamir did not disclose the revisions he will propose to Secretary of State George P. Shultz, who devised the plan and set this week as a deadline for a reply from the Israeli and Jordanian governments.

But in an arrival statement, Shamir said the 1978 Camp David agreements, which called for a five-year trial period of Palestinian self-rule, “should serve as our guide.”

The State Department did not indicate whether Shultz would be willing to alter his formula for negotiations. Spokesman Charles E. Redman simply called it “a serious proposal” that is under “active consideration” in Israeli and Arab capitals.

Interim Accord Sought

Shultz is pushing for a three-year interim arrangement on the Israeli-held West Bank and Gaza Strip, with negotiations for an overall settlement to open by December. He also is prodding Israel to cede territory in exchange for Arab recognition.

Shamir, stepping from a U.S. Air Force plane at Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland, said he was “always open to new and constructive proposals” to bring peace to the Middle East.

He said that Israel wished to live in peace with its neighbors but that “violence, terrorism and war are endemic” to the region.

Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) cautioned that for Israel “to continue down the road developing now is a road to disaster.”

Israelis ‘Are Divided’

Byrd told reporters on Capitol Hill that “Mr. Shamir would be well advised to listen to the viewpoints of the friends of Israel in this country,” including Congress and the American Jewish community.

Shamir, after an overnight flight from Tel Aviv, met with about 30 Jewish leaders at Kennedy Airport in New York before continuing on to Washington. Avi Pazner, his spokesman, said Shamir told them, “I have decided not to take any decision right now because people in Israel are divided.”

Shamir told the group, which included Morris B. Abram, head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, that most people in Israel want peace.