U.S. Urges 3-Nation Mideast Effort : Would Join Israel, Egypt in Picking Palestinian Delegates

The Bush Administration, hoping to revive Israel’s stalled peace initiative, is proposing a joint U.S.-Israel-Egypt group to select Palestinians to negotiate terms for elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Secretary of State James A. Baker III said Monday.

Talking to reporters after a 45-minute meeting between President Bush and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Baker said that the latest proposal is intended to break the deadlock over conditions for talks between Israelis and Palestinians.

A Stamp of Approval

“The three nations could in some way determine the Palestinian representation with respect to the dialogue,” Baker said. “That would, of course, give Israel a chop (stamp of approval) on the (Palestinian) representation.”

An Egyptian official in Mubarak’s party said that the proposal is designed to permit Israel to “save face” by assuring that Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s government would be consulted on the make-up of the Palestinian delegation. The official said that Cairo would support the three-nation approach if it shows any promise of breaking the impasse.

Issue of Representatives

All recent Middle East peace plans have foundered on the difficult issue of picking Palestinian representatives. Israel refuses to deal with members of the Palestine Liberation Organization, while most prominent Palestinians and all Arab states regard the PLO as the “sole legitimate representative” of the Palestinian people. Also, Israel insists that it will negotiate only with residents of the occupied territories, while most Palestinians say that the delegation should include some Palestinians living abroad.

Earlier this year, Mubarak offered to host Israel-Palestinian talks in Cairo, with Egypt nominating the Palestinian representatives. Egyptian officials said that Mubarak had planned to select delegates acceptable to the PLO, but not well-known officials of the organization. However, Israel balked at that approach.

Bush and Mubarak see eye-to-eye on almost all aspects of the Middle East peace process, officials from both countries said.

“I found President Bush quite determined to pursue the active role which has enabled the parties to make tangible progress in recent months,” Mubarak told reporters in the White House driveway. “Today, we believe that the potential is great for further progress. . . . It would be a grave mistake to miss the golden opportunity that exists today.”

Baker was not nearly so optimistic as Mubarak, who admitted that “I am by nature very hopeful.”

Asked to assess the chance of launching an Israel-Palestinian dialogue, Baker said: “. . . It is ‘possible.’ I think it’s too early to say it’s ‘probable.’ ”

The Israeli Cabinet is scheduled to meet this week to consider a 10-point proposal put forward by Mubarak last month. Both Baker and Mubarak said that the Egyptian plan is consistent with Shamir’s West Bank and Gaza election initiative. Shamir and his right-wing Likud Bloc have rejected the Egyptian plan, which the prime minister called “unkosher.” But the centrist Labor Party, junior partner in the national unity government, maintains that Israel should accept Mubarak’s proposal.

As he did last week after meetings at the United Nations with Israeli and Egyptian officials, Baker urged Israel to accept the Egyptian plan, saying that it is entirely consistent with Israel’s own proposal.

‘We’re Encouraging That’

“We would like very much for the Shamir elections proposal to move forward, and we think that the Egyptian 10 points affords us a means of implementing the Shamir elections proposal,” Baker said. “So we’re encouraging that.”

“I would like to stress again that my 10 points are not a new initiative,” Mubarak said. “The initiative is Mr. Shamir’s initiative.”

Mubarak said that his plan was intended only to clarify the Shamir proposal. Asked if the points were negotiable, the Egyptian president said: “Of course, negotiable.”

However, Mubarak said he is in no hurry to meet face to face with Shamir.

“Such a meeting should come out to something,” Mubarak said. “Otherwise, it will have a negative reaction on the peoples of both sides. I am ready to meet him at any time, but there should be something to come out.”

An Egyptian official said later that Mubarak was not trying to pressure Shamir into changing his mind on the 10-point plan. Nevertheless, Shamir has passed the word that he wants very much to meet with the only Arab chief of state to recognize Israel. In recent weeks, Mubarak has conferred with Foreign Minister Moshe Arens, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Finance Minister Shimon Peres while declining to meet with Shamir. Arens is a member of the Likud while Rabin and Peres are members of the Labor Party.