Egypt, Israel, U.S. Foreign Ministers May Meet

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Israel and the United States may meet in Geneva next week as part of efforts to push the Middle East peace process forward, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said Saturday.

“In view of recent consultations, a trilateral meeting at the foreign ministers’ level may be held in a European capital, most likely Geneva, either on Feb. 11 or Feb. 12,” a ministry spokesman said.

The spokesman said Secretary of State James A. Baker III’s scheduled meeting with his Soviet counterpart, Eduard A. Shevardnadze, in Moscow is scheduled for Feb. 10, leaving him free to attend the proposed meeting on Feb. 11.

State-run Cairo Radio said the meeting is expected to last two full days.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman warned that the meeting could only take place if the Likud Party, one of Israel’s ruling coalition partners, gives Foreign Minister Moshe Arens the green light to attend.

“As far the American and Egyptian sides are concerned, the meeting is on, . . . but we must wait in case Likud has any objection to the meeting,” the spokesman said.

The Likud Central Committee is scheduled to convene Wednesday. Although its agenda remains unclear, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said Saturday that he will seek a vote of confidence amid bickering led by his chief party rivals.

A trilateral meeting would greatly boost Baker’s five-point peace plan, which calls for a meeting of an Israeli and a Palestinian delegation in Cairo, at which they would hammer out details for elections in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The peace plan, which foresees the election of Palestinian leaders to negotiate with Israel on a final settlement for governance of the territories, became bogged down over the question of which Palestinians would participate.