Possibility of U.S. Policy Shift Sends a Shiver Through Israel

Reports that the United States might back a U.N. call to hold an international conference on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute sent shivers through the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir on Thursday, just as he began a trip to London and Washington for his first visits since the Persian Gulf crisis broke out.

The Bush Administration strongly denied that it supports holding such a conference now.

Officials at the Foreign Ministry said they are trying to find out whether the United States would propose such a conference or simply let such a move pass in the U.N. Security Council or find some alternative.

In Washington, Secretary of State James A. Baker III told the House Foreign Affairs Committee: “We are not now recommending that an international conference on the Arab-Israeli conflict be held, nor are we supporting a resolution in the Security Council that would seek to convene such a conference.”

And White House Press Secretary Marlin Fitzwater, traveling with President Bush in South America, responded with “it’s not true” when he was asked if the United States is pushing a Mideast peace conference.

The call for such a conference is coming from U.N. allies of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The move gained momentum after Israel refused to allow a U.N. team to look into its treatment of Palestinians in the wake of an Oct. 8 incident in which Israeli police shot to death 20 Arabs in Jerusalem.

Arriving in London, Shamir categorically rejected any conference proposal. “If such a decision is taken by a foreign body, Israeli will not participate in it. We will not accept it,” he told reporters.

Israel opposes an international conference on the grounds that it would be dominated by Palestinian sympathizers and that the PLO itself would be seated at the table.

“Israel sees this as a potential ‘mugging,’ ” said Harry Wall, a delegate from the Anti-Defamation League in Jerusalem.