‘Going Is Tough,’ Shultz Says of His Mideast Effort

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said Tuesday that “the going is very tough” in his Middle East peace initiative, but he vowed to continue the effort.

In two days of intensive meetings with leaders of Israel, Jordan and Syria, Shultz said he heard mostly questions and complaints about his proposal.

“I can’t report any particular sense of convergence on our initiative at this point,” Shultz said in the most pessimistic assessment he has made yet of his chances of bringing Israel and its Arab neighbors to the negotiating table.

Nevertheless, Shultz said, Jordan’s King Hussein and Syria’s President Hafez Assad both urged him to continue his effort even though wide differences remain.

“Everywhere I go, there is uniform belief that it is important to keep going,” he told reporters aboard his aircraft after his final meeting of the day.

As he did Monday in Israel, Shultz said he tried to focus Tuesday’s discussions with Hussein and Assad on specific details of the plan. He said such talks showed more promise for progress than earlier discussions of overall philosophy.

“To some degree, we have been able to do that, but I don’t want to give any big plus sign because it would not be warranted by the facts,” he said.

Earlier, in an interview with Jordanian television, Shultz sought to convince the Arab world that the United States will not pressure Israel into making concessions to its neighbors. He said that if Arab nations want Israel to withdraw from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, they will have to enter direct negotiations with the Jerusalem government.

Responding to a barrage of demands from Jordanian journalists that Washington force Israel to relinquish territories it occupied in the Arab-Israeli war of 1967, Shultz said: “There is no prospect that the United States will say to Israel, ‘You do such and such or we will not support your security.’ I think you know that.”

Shultz spent much of the interview defending the United States against charges that Washington is biased in favor of Israel. He also was sharply critical of the Palestine Liberation Organization and said Israel is justified in its refusal to negotiate with the PLO, which Israel denounces as a terrorist organization.

Jordanian television told the State Department that the interview would be broadcast as part of the main evening news program in Arabic. However, the broadcast was delayed and televised on a later English-language program that has a much smaller audience.

News agencies reported from Amman that Jordanian officials were angered by some of Shultz’s answers.

In his talk with reporters aboard his airplane, Shultz said Hussein gave him a long list of questions about the implications of the U.S. proposal. He said he promised to deliver the answers when he returns to Amman late today for more talks. Also today, Shultz is scheduled to confer again with Israeli leaders and to travel to Cairo for a meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

In an interview with the Voice of America’s Arabic service and Radio Monte Carlo, which has a wide audience in the Arab world, Shultz said Hussein “is very responsive” to the U.S. plan.

“He is engaged with us,” Shultz added in a reference to the king. “He helped to construct this initiative in the first place. He provided ideas, some of which are right there. He has further questions, and we are trying to respond to those questions. But he is a very active and constructive partner in this effort.”

Shultz conceded that Assad’s views on the peace process were “sharply different” from the American position.

Closer to Agreement

He said he and Assad are closer to agreement on an effort to mediate peace in the murderous confrontations between religious-based factions in Lebanon. The objective, he said, is to draft political reforms before the Lebanese presidential elections scheduled for this summer.

“We think we have made a reasonable amount of headway, but, as in all of these things, you don’t know for sure until you get there,” he said.

Although the Shultz shuttle includes stops in Israel, Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Saudi Arabia this week, the most important stops are in Jerusalem and Amman.

Without the approval of Israel and Jordan, the Shultz plan has no chance for success. Support from Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia would be helpful but is not vital.

It seems likely that if either Israel or Jordan formally approves the plan, the other will come under heavy pressure to go along. Conversely, each country is pointing to the failure of the other to sign up as a reason for its own reluctance.