Pre-Conference Developments

Superpowers: President Bush and Soviet President Gorbachev, the conference sponsors, met for a pre-conference strategy session at the Soviet Embassy in Madrid and emerged expressing hope for a positive outcome. At a joint news conference, Gorbachev said he and Bush agreed to “use all the remedies that we have at our disposal” to bring peace to the Mideast.

Palestinians: A senior Palestinian official said the Palestinians would negotiate on autonomy in Israeli-occupied territory. But the Palestinians still insisted that self-rule lead to statehood, which Israel opposes. Faisal Husseini, leader of a group of advisers accompanying the Palestinian delegation, said the Palestinians hope to secure an agreement for autonomy leading to an independent Palestinian state that would join in a confederation with Jordan.

Israel: Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said Israel will participate in the talks despite attacks on its soldiers in Lebanon and its settlers in the West Bank in the previous 24 hours. Three Israeli soldiers were killed by an explosion in southern Lebanon early Tuesday, Israel said, a day after two Jewish settlers from the West Bank were shot to death in an attack on a bus en route to a rally. Shamir met with Gorbachev for the first top-level Soviet-Israeli talks since the 1967 split between the two countries.

Terrorism: Arab radicals fired a rocket against the wall of the U.S. Embassy compound in East Beirut.

Demonstrations: About 2,000 people participated in a peace march in occupied Gaza City, Palestinian reporters said. Israel Radio also reported the demonstration, saying soldiers watched as marchers chanted, “We are with the peace conference.”

Syria: The Syrian delegation to the Madrid talks flew to Madrid. Western diplomats in Damascus said the delegates were expected to stick closely to Syrian President Hafez Assad’s demand that Israel withdraw from Arab lands seized in 1967.