Israelis Place Provisos on Palestinian Meeting Plan

Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens has notified Secretary of State James A. Baker III that his government accepts a U.S. plan for Palestinian negotiations, with two reservations, the Israeli Embassy said today.

One proviso is that Baker provide assurances that the Palestine Liberation Organization will not participate in the talks. The other is that any Israeli meeting with Palestinians before elections are conducted on the West Bank and in Gaza would be restricted to arrangements for the balloting, said Ruth Yaron, the embassy spokeswoman.

Arens sent a letter to Baker on Monday night outlining his government’s position. It was delivered by Ambassador Moshe Arad after Baker returned from San Francisco, where he made a speech on U.S. arms control policy.

“He is not optimistic or pessimistic,” a U.S. official said after Baker read the letter. “He is realistic.”

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, meanwhile, told reporters during a tour of the Golan Heights that “Israel will agree to the plan after the changes we proposed are accepted.”

He called the exchange with Baker positive. “I don’t see any large gap between our views and the proposals of the secretary of state, but there are some differences,” he said.

The prime minister added that “in a few days we will know if there is an agreement or not.”

However, members of the opposition Labor Party, which supports the Baker proposal without reservations, said they would stage a walkout in Parliament to protest the government’s stand.

“I don’t see anything in Baker’s proposal that needs to be changed,” Labor leader Shimon Peres said.

Arens informed Baker in the letter that Israel “accepted basically” his five-point proposal for a meeting with Palestinians, Yaron said.

Baker’s proposal included an assurance that Israel would be “satisfied” with the composition of the delegation and it assigned Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak a middle-man role of consulting with the PLO.

However, Yaron said Arens also requested what she called two “tactical changes.” One would assure Israel that the PLO would not participate in the meeting and the other would limit the agenda to the election itself.