Baker Sending an Envoy to Determine Israel’s Peace Intentions

Secretary of State James A. Baker III said Monday that he is sending an envoy to Jerusalem to discover whether the Israeli government is still “serious” about seeking peace through Palestinian elections.

“We really want to make certain that they are as committed to this proposal as they have been,” Baker told reporters accompanying President Bush on his visit to Poland.

In a new escalation of U.S. pressure on Israel over the issue, Baker suggested that the Bush Administration will hold Jerusalem responsible if the peace plan falters.

The Bush Administration has supported a peace plan first advanced in May by the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, centering on a proposal for free elections among the Palestinian Arabs of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Last week, however, Shamir’s Likud Party added four tough conditions to the election plan, including a total halt to the Palestinian uprising before any vote can be held.

Intending to Kill Plan

Baker and other U.S. officials are said to believe privately that the new conditions may have been devised expressly to kill the plan by making it unacceptable to most Arabs.

They have sought to put gentle but increasing pressure on the Israeli government to ignore some or all of Likud’s amendments and return to the plan as it was originally proposed.

“The four elements that were outlined in the (Likud) party meeting give rise, at least in our minds, to a question about the seriousness of purpose” in Israel, Baker said. “We’ve already characterized those (amendments in the plan) as unhelpful, so we really want to make certain that they are as committed to this proposal as we have been if we’re going to continue to strongly support it.”

He said the Administration had not yet decided whom to send as its envoy to Jerusalem. He said that the decision will probably be made this week and that the envoy will travel to the Middle East “around the middle of July.”

No Change in Position

Baker also said that the United States has not changed its position to support an international peace conference on the Middle East.

Last week, an official traveling on Baker’s airplane in Asia suggested that Likud’s move to harden Israel’s stand on the elections might push the United States toward the alternative approach of an international conference--a move Israel has long opposed.

“Our policy is as it has been--that an international conference might be appropriate at the right time. The right time is not now,” Baker said. “We think we should continue to pursue the Israeli government’s election proposal. We have felt for some time that it had a great deal of promise. We think it’s important to determine what changes, if any, have been accomplished in the official Israeli government position by virtue of the Likud Party conference.”