Rabin Basks in Glow of Washington’s Calls : Israel: New leader predicts warm relations after Bush and Baker telephone. But Palestinians are still waiting for their phones to ring.

New Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, during his first day in office Tuesday, assured his country that congratulatory telephone calls from Washington are signals of warm relations and foreign aid to come, while skeptical Palestinian leaders awaited a call from Rabin formally inviting them to meet with him--although they did not say if they would accept.

Rabin moved into the prime minister’s office vacated by Yitzhak Shamir, the combative right-wing leader he defeated in last month’s elections. Rabin is leading a government committed to stepping up the pace of Middle East peace talks, a pledge that has already drawn smiles from the Bush Administration.

Both President Bush and Secretary of State James A. Baker III telephoned Rabin shortly after his Cabinet was confirmed Sunday by Israel’s Parliament. Rabin would like the smiles converted into support for development loans that Israel needs to jump-start its economy and produce jobs for waves of new immigrants.

“In light of my conversation with President Bush and, after him, Secretary Baker, the diplomatic process will be accelerated and opportunities will be found to improve relations with the United States in an effort to advance peacemaking--and perhaps to find ways that will help us,” Rabin said.

Finance Minister Abraham Shohat, anticipating a scheduled visit by Baker to Jerusalem on Sunday, expects the question of U.S. support for $10 billion in loans to come up right away. “The fact that the U.S. President and secretary of state called the prime minister immediately after the government was formed and the secretary of state will arrive here on Sunday has economic significance, not just political significance,” Shohat said.

U.S. loan guarantees, a pledge to pay in case of default, would make it easier and cheaper for Israel to borrow the funds on the international market. The guarantees would not directly cost the U.S. taxpayer unless the Israelis default, but they would require the U.S. government to set aside tens of millions of dollars, charged against the federal budget, against the possibility of default.

The Bush Administration made its support conditional on a freeze of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During his term as prime minister, Shamir refused and expanded construction at a rapid pace.

Rabin took office pledging to stop spending on settlements that are not deemed necessary for the country’s defense. But it is still unclear whether he will let settlers fill mobile homes that were set up to thicken settlements in areas heavily populated by Arabs and whether the government will supply infrastructure for new neighborhoods now under construction.

The new housing minister, Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, pledged Tuesday only that “no more money will go to new settlements.” He said nothing about old ones.

Ariel Sharon, the housing minister under Shamir, boasted that he had put enough projects in place to foil Rabin’s efforts.

Baker’s visit is his first to the Middle East since peace talks got under way in October. The talks, between Israel and Arab adversaries Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and the Palestinians, have produced some exchanges of position and agreements to meet again.

The State Department said Tuesday that after visiting Israel this weekend, Baker will also meet next week with the leaders of five Arab countries--Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon--and the Palestinians.

Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza withheld a firm response to an invitation from Rabin for them to attend “informal” meetings with him. Rabin made the gesture Monday in his inaugural address to the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament.

The Palestinians held out for formal word. “We are in Jerusalem, and he can telephone us directly,” Faisal Husseini, a top Jerusalem-based leader, said at a press conference.

The Palestinians were reluctant to comment on any of the new Israeli leader’s proposals. When asked if the Palestinians were willing to negotiate nonstop, as Rabin has suggested, Husseini quipped, “We would like weekends off.”