‘Stubborn’ Shultz Pushes Peace Plan : Meets Hussein, Assad; Says U.S. Won’t Pressure Israel

Secretary of State George P. Shultz met with Arab leaders today on a U.S. Mideast peace plan and said “I have not heard a yes, I haven’t heard a no anywhere. I keep going for it because I am stubborn and because I think there is a big need for something to happen. If people tell me to go home, I’ll go home.”

He also said the United States cannot force Israel to make concessions or accept demands.

Shultz, on his second Middle East peace mission in six weeks, held talks with Jordan’s King Hussein in Amman and with Syrian President Hafez Assad in Damascus to explain and seek support for the U.S. proposal seeking to resolve the Israeli-Arab conflict.

Hussein Has Questions

“His Majesty is very concerned about the problems,” Shultz said of his more than one-hour meeting with Hussein. “He has further questions, and we are trying to respond to those questions.”

At a news conference in Amman after his meeting with Hussein, Shultz rejected a demand by Jordanian journalists that the United States pressure Israel into withdrawing from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, where at least 133 Arabs and one Israeli soldier have died in unrest that erupted Dec. 9.

Shultz said U.S. security support for Israel is not linked to the Israelis’ actions in the occupied territories.

“There is no prospect that the United States will say to Israel, ‘(If) you do such and such . . . we will not support you in your security,’ ” he said.

Won’t Give Up Land

Shultz said the possibility of Israel giving up the occupied territories and withdrawing to its borders before the 1976 Six Day War is “not in the cards.”

The U.S. peace plan calls for the convening of an international peace conference followed by two phases of direct Arab-Israeli negotiations on the Palestinian homeland issue.

Under the peace plan, the first talks between a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation and Israel, to begin by May 1, would lead to limited self rule for the 1.5 million Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

A second round of talks would be held later to determine the final status of the territories captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

To Stop in Egypt

Shultz met with divided Israeli leaders Monday and was scheduled to return to Amman and go to Egypt on Wednesday.

The secretary said he has no intention of giving up on his plan.

Shultz said the Reagan Administration believes that Jerusalem “should remain an undivided city,” but that its status could be determined during negotiations.

The secretary also said “we don’t think an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank makes sense,” adding that a confederation with Jordan might be the answer.

Jordan and Syria favor an international peace conference, which is also supported by Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, but Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir opposes the idea.