Palestinians Delay Trip to Peace Talks : Mideast: They are protesting Israeli plans to expel activists from the West Bank and Gaza. The delegates want the U.S. to take a more active role.

Palestinian leaders delayed their Friday departure to next week’s round of Middle East peace talks in Washington to protest the planned expulsions of anti-Israeli activists from the West Bank and Gaza Strip and to prod the Bush Administration to take a hand in this and other disputes.

The Palestinian protest was aimed more at President Bush than at the government of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. The Palestinians argue that Bush, as a self-declared sponsor of the peace talks, should force Israel to rescind the expulsion order on the grounds that it violates international law and reveals Israeli bad faith in the negotiations.

“Where is the sponsor?” asked Saeb Erakat, a Palestinian delegate. “Bush wanted confidence-building measures. The Israelis are coming up with confidence-destroying measures.”

In Washington, the State Department issued an unusually strong statement saying that the United States “strongly condemns the Israeli government’s decision to deport Palestinians.” State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States had “urged Israel at the highest levels” to rescind its decision.

The dispute over Israel’s deportations called into question whether the next round of Mideast peace talks will go forward as planned next week.

But Boucher said the United States believes that the Palestinian representatives ought to come to Washington for the talks. He said the United States has encouraged the Palestinians and all other parties “to focus on peace and to resume bilateral negotiations next week as they had previously agreed.”

In their written statement, the Palestinians called on “the United States to fulfill its explicit responsibilities . . . by prevailing on the Israeli government to nullify this grave breach of international law.”

It was far from certain that the Palestinians would boycott the peace talks. According to a statement, they are waiting for the Palestine Liberation Organization to decide. The PLO has been banned from direct participation in the negotiations, although its representatives have played a behind-the-scenes role since the talks got under way in Madrid in late August. They were renewed in Washington last month.

Delegates from Jordan, who have been lumped in a joint delegation with the Palestinians, are planning to leave for Washington today as scheduled. Teams from Syria and Lebanon are expected to attend, too, although a Palestinian boycott could prove an embarrassment to Arab groups that attend.

The United States condemns Israeli expulsions as contrary to the Geneva Conventions’ rules of occupation. During the four years of the Arab uprising against Israeli rule in the West Bank and Gaza, 67 Palestinians have been banished to Lebanon.

Israeli officials insist that the expulsions have nothing to do with the talks. Rather, they say, the fatal ambushes of four settlers on West Bank and Gaza roads since October required a stern response. Settler groups have been clamoring for expulsions since the shooting death of a settler in Gaza last week.

None of the potential deportees are directly involved with the killings, government-controlled radio said. Rather, they are accused of incitement.

“They are responsible for the incitement, for creating the atmosphere, giving legitimacy to terrorism,” said Brig. Gen. Freddy Zach, deputy head of the military government in the West Bank and Gaza. “Even if this is an indirect contribution, it is enough to act.”

Anticipating criticism from Washington, Deputy Defense Minster Ovadia Eli told Army Radio: “Americans are important friends for us, but we are a sovereign state and we will take the steps we consider necessary to ensure the safety of our citizens. . . . “

No date has been set for the expulsions, pending appeals to courts by any of the accused.

Palestinian delegates to the peace talks are coming under fire at home for what are viewed as negative results of the negotiations. Israel has continued to take land from Palestinians; it has begun a campaign to set up colonies of militant settlers in Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem, and it now plans to deport Palestinians. “These actions are making talks irrelevant,” Erakat said.

Peace talks have produced little but bombast so far. The Palestinians, fretting that time is on Israel’s side, are pressing the United States to intervene on their behalf on issues ranging from a proposed settlement freeze to a dispute over whether their delegation must at all times include Jordanians.

Washington has been busy keeping the talks going, setting dates and sites and suggesting ways the various sides can get off the mark.

Shamir seems intent on thumbing his nose at Bush Administration designs for a solution. On Friday, his government made provision in the 1992 budget to build 5,000 houses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Shamir has aggressively pursued construction on the disputed land to preclude turning it over to the Palestinians as part of a peace deal. Bush has spoken out in favor of a trade of land by Israel, in return for peace with the Arabs.

Whether Bush will exert heavy pressure on Israel to preserve the land-for-peace option is another matter. An indication may come later this month when the Israelis appeal to the Administration to approve guarantees for loans meant to provide jobs and housing for Soviet immigrants to Israel.

Administration officials have hinted they will somehow link approval to curtailment of the settlement program.

On Friday, the State Department also criticized Israel’s new budget allocation for new settlements.

“Our opposition to settlement activity is well known,” Boucher said. He added: “In light of the enormous challenge that Israel is facing in absorbing Soviet Jews under stringent budgetary conditions, it is hard to understand . . . how an estimated quarter of the government housing budget will go to increased units in the occupied territories.”

He directed most of his criticism at Israel’s planned deportation of Palestinians, saying: “We believe deportations are a form of retaliation and are not a remedy, nor are they a deterrent to violence. We’ve long called on all parties to avoid unilateral acts, be they words or deeds that would raise tensions, invite retaliation or complicate the ability to pursue peace.

“The real remedy for chronic violence in the occupied territories is not retaliation but the process of Arab-Israeli negotiation,” he said. “Thus, on the eve of resumption of negotiations where Israel has Arab and Palestinian partners for peace, it is hard for us to understand why such unilateral acts were taken.”

Williams reported from Jerusalem and Mann from Washington.