Baker Presents Israelis With Talks Deadline

Secretary of State James A. Baker III bluntly told Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens on Friday that Jerusalem’s hesitation to move ahead with its own Palestinian election plan is standing in the way of progress toward Middle East peace, an Administration official said.

The official, who spoke only on the condition he would not be identified by name, said that if Israel does not agree to move ahead next week, Baker “will probably pull back” from the negotiations, leaving Israel and its Arab adversaries without a U.S. mediator, at least for a while.

In their meeting, according to the official, Baker told Arens that Egypt, acting as a surrogate for the Palestine Liberation Organization, has signaled that it is ready to compromise on some of the issues that have stalled the Israeli election initiative and it is time for Israel to compromise as well.

Baker and Arens met for 90 minutes, twice as long as scheduled, during a Washington stopover by the Israeli official on his way home after visiting Mexico.

Both men described the meeting as “constructive” although they did not agree to move to the next stage of the peace process--a long-delayed three-sided meeting of Baker, Arens and Egyptian Foreign Minister Esmat Abdel Meguid.

Before starting his talks with Baker, Arens said he could agree to nothing Friday because the Israeli inner Cabinet must debate the issue next week. U.S. officials accepted that explanation, but they urged Israel to decide the matter one way or the other at the next inner Cabinet meeting.

“Next week we will either have a trilateral (U.S.-Israel-Egypt meeting) or we will not (ever) have a trilateral,” the official said, referring to Baker’s possible retreat to the sidelines of the peace process.

However, Baker and Arens glossed over U.S.-Israel tensions when they talked briefly to reporters after the meeting.

Baker said the session was “a very constructive and hopefully a very productive meeting.” But he admitted: “We have not agreed on the timetable for a trilateral meeting.” Asked why not, he added: “Because we’re not there yet. But I think we’re making some progress.”

Nevertheless, he indicated that progress has been very slow: “We are continuing to work on some of the same issues that we’ve been working on over the past months.”

Arens was even more guarded in his comments: “We had a good, constructive conversation that lasted for quite a while.”

In the meeting, though, the secretary of state’s message “was the same one he gave on the (Capitol) Hill” on Thursday when Baker displayed impatience with Israeli hesitation, the Administration official said.

Talking to the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Baker said Egypt has been “forthcoming” recently and if Israel “is equally forthcoming we might have a chance of making a little progress.”

“We need action,” Baker told the lawmakers. “We’ve been doing a lot of talking. Maybe we need some more talking, but the time for action is very close.”

Baker envisions U.S.-Israel-Egypt talks to pick a Palestinian delegation that would meet later, probably in Cairo, with Israeli officials to establish conditions for Palestinian elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The elections, in turn, would select a Palestinian delegation to negotiate with Israel over the future of the predominantly Arab territories that Israel has occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.

The election plan was originally put forward by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir last April. The U.S. official said Baker reminded Arens that Washington strongly supports the proposal, and he urged Israel not to back away from its own idea.

Although the U.S.-Israel-Egypt meeting would not guarantee a peace settlement or even assure that the elections would be held, it is a vital first step. At least under the procedure supported by Baker, nothing more can happen until the three foreign ministers meet.

“You measure progress in Middle East peace in very small steps,” Baker admitted in his congressional testimony.

Shamir has been reluctant to move to that stage because he is concerned that Baker and Meguid would join forces to pressure Arens to accept Palestinian exiles or residents of East Jerusalem in the Palestinian delegation.

Shamir and his right-wing Likud Party want to limit the Palestinian delegation to present residents of the West Bank and Gaza. They are concerned that inclusion of Jerusalem Arabs would undercut Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, and they object to exiles because they fear it would set the stage for unlimited Palestinian emigration into the West Bank and Gaza.

Moreover, Israel refuses to engage in any sort of negotiations with the PLO, which it considers a terrorist organization. The Baker plan finesses Israel’s position on the PLO by engaging Egypt, the only Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel, as a surrogate spokesman for the Palestinians. But if the process ever gets beyond the proposed foreign ministers meeting, it will become increasingly difficult to mask PLO participation.

Arafat, in the letter made public in Israel, said his organization agrees that Palestinian residents of the West Bank and Gaza should take the lead in negotiations with Israel. That is a concession, since Arafat had previously insisted that his Tunis-based organization is the only legitimate Palestinian representative. However, Arafat also insisted on including some exiles on the Palestinian delegation, a position that is opposed by Shamir’s government.

Baker said he also took advantage of his meeting with Arens to brief the Israeli foreign minister on U.S.-Soviet talks about the Middle East.

Baker has said previously that he urged the Soviets to permit direct Moscow-to-Tel Aviv flights by the Soviet airline Aeroflot or the Israeli airline El Al to carry Soviet Jewish emigrants to Israel.

SHIFT BY ARAFAT--Arafat accepts an offstage PLO role in peace talks. A6