Christopher to Press for Mideast Talks : Diplomacy: On his first trip, secretary of state is likely to find both Israel and Arabs cooperative.

Secretary of State Warren Christopher heads for the Middle East tonight, seeking to restart Arab-Israeli peace talks that have been stalled since December on his maiden journey as the Clinton Administration’s chief diplomat.

His mission appears likely to succeed. Arab and Israeli diplomats say their governments are ready to return to the negotiations, both to see what they can gain and to avoid offending the new U.S. Administration.

The only apparent obstacle in Christopher’s path is the Palestinians’ refusal to rejoin the talks unless Israel cancels its Dec. 17 expulsion of more than 400 alleged Muslim militants, most of whom are still camped just across Israel’s northern border in Lebanon.

But even among Palestinian leaders, U.S. officials said, there have been clear signs of interest in finding a compromise.

“They’re looking for ways to get back into the process without making it appear that they’ve given something up,” said a senior official involved in the talks.

Ambassadors from the Arab countries involved in the talks--Syria, Lebanon and Jordan--told American officials last week that they are willing to come back to the negotiations, although they still hope the Palestinians can be enticed back too.

Israel has made it clear that it wants the talks to resume. “We want to make peace, and we are ready to pay the price,” Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said in Washington on Tuesday. “We are ready to offer compromises, including a territorial compromise, and we would like to do it this year.”

But Christopher is carefully refusing to predict his own success. “I don’t want to establish a particular target for the trip,” he told reporters. “I hope that, subsequently, the peace process can be restarted . . . but I would not expect that to happen during the course of my trip.”

Still, he acknowledged, “The portents are very good.”

Christopher is scheduled to leave tonight after attending President Clinton’s address to a joint session of Congress. His itinerary includes Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Israel.

After a week, he is scheduled to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Andrei V. Kozyrev in Geneva, then to report to the foreign ministers of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in Brussels.

Besides seeking agreement to restart the peace talks, Christopher plans to assure Saudi Arabia and Kuwait that the Clinton Administration will support them against both Iraq and Iran, two powerful states in the Persian Gulf region.

Christopher has deliberately chosen to visit Kuwait, where American forces expelled an Iraqi occupation army two years ago, to make a point to Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, a senior aide said.

“It’s important for Saddam Hussein to understand that this Administration is determined to see him comply with (U.N.) resolutions” imposed on Iraq after the Gulf War, the official said.

Hussein has asked the United Nations to relax its embargo on Iraqi oil exports, and last week he said he hopes that Clinton will be sympathetic because he opposed the Vietnam War.

As an opening line, it fell a bit flat. “We don’t believe that Saddam’s charm offensive means anything,” a senior official said. “Saddam is not fixable.”