Hussein Optimistic on Peace in Mideast

Jordan’s King Hussein, concluding a visit to Washington, said Thursday that he is more optimistic than he has been for “many, many years” about the prospects for peace in the Middle East.

Jordanian officials said the monarch’s mood is based on his hope that the United States will try to soften Israel’s refusal to negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

President Bush echoed Hussein’s upbeat assessment, although he told a small group of reporters that he is “not sure now” what the next step will be in the peace process.

“We’ve got something out there on elections that offers some promise,” Bush said in reference to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s proposal for West Bank and Gaza Strip elections to select Arabs to negotiate with Israel over limited Palestinian self-government.

However, Hussein gave Shamir’s election proposal a chilly review. He said that it “might be worth looking at” as part of a total package that included Israeli withdrawal from the territories it occupied during the 1967 Middle East War. In any case, he added, it is the PLO and not Jordan that must decide whether or not to participate in the balloting.

Hussein’s comments seemed to be carefully crafted to give the plan the least possible support without risking an open break with Bush, who has endorsed Shamir’s proposal. In remarks to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, the king did not mention the election plan at all, an omission that was interpreted as a sign of some friction between Washington and Amman.

“I feel happier and more optimistic on this visit than I have for many, many years,” Hussein said as he left the State Department after meetings with Secretary of State James A. Baker III.

A senior Jordanian official said later that because of the PLO’s acknowledgement last December of Israel’s right to exist, Hussein was able, for the first time, to tell a U.S. President that “there are no obstacles on the Arab side in the path of the peace process.”

The official conceded that the Arab League’s “three nos”--no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel and no peace with Israel--for years had prevented any progress toward peace.

‘Reversed Roles’

Now, however, he said, “we seem to have reversed roles. We had our three nos. Now Mr. Shamir has his nos.” Shamir has said that Israeli policy is based on no recognition of the PLO, no independent Palestinian state and no international peace conference.

The official said Hussein believes that the United States can persuade Israel to change Shamir’s position, although he conceded: “We understand that it is not possible for the United States to exert outright pressure on Israel to get them to do things that are contrary to their policy.”

The official said there can be no settlement unless Israel agrees to negotiate with the PLO.

Bush said he agrees with Hussein’s comment Wednesday “that the time is right for some kind of action.” But the President said that the Administration has not yet decided what kind of action to take.

“Now we’ve got to assess after he (Hussein) leaves here where we go, what next step we take,” Bush said. “We take whatever the next step is.”

The President said that the basis for a U.S. initiative is in place.

“We have much better communication now with Jordan,” he said. “We’ve kept good cooperation and coordination with the Egyptians. The Israelis themselves attest to the fact that they have great confidence in our Administration. We have some differences with all three of those countries, but I think it’s moving.”

Turning to an even more intractable Middle East dispute, Bush expressed anguish and frustration at Washington’s inability to do anything to stop the bloodshed in Lebanon.

“This is one that really does hurt and I’m very, very concerned about it,” the President said. “I wish I had a . . . dramatic plan which the players in the area could agree to, but it’s not there.

“We don’t have great influence in Lebanon with the factions that are fighting,” he added.

Bush did not attempt to apportion blame between the Christian-led Lebanese army and its opponents in the Syrian army and Muslim militias.

The competing forces are exchanging artillery barrages that cause more civilian than military casualties.

“The problem--the short run of it--how you stop this firing, the shelling, how you get factions to stop warring--has certainly in recent times defied solution,” the President said.