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Israel Accepts Plan,
But Troubles Remain
WOLF BLITZER
Washington Correspondent
T
he Israel Cabinet's
qualified acceptance of
Secretary of State
James Baker's five-point
framework proposal may
pave the way for a White
House meeting later this
month between President
George Bush and Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir.
But U.S. officials, while
seeing the Cabinet decision
as an important initial step
forward in the peace process,
still insisted that very seri-
ous problems stand in the
way of an Israeli-Palestinian
dialogue.
Privately, U.S. officials
said that the Israeli in-
sistence that only Palesti-
nian Arabs, "residents of
Judea, Samaria and Gaza,"
will be eligible to participate
in a proposed Palestinian
delegation still represents
the most serious diplomatic
stumbling block.
Baker, in his revised five-
point draft, deliberately
refused to use such lan-
guage, despite repeated re-
quests by Shamir and For-
eign Minister Moshe Arens.
It was problematic whether
Baker now will be able to
provide Israel with private
side assurances on this sen-
sitive point.
The Americans were
pleased that the Israel
Cabinet had agreed to the
Egyptian proposal that the
first Israeli-Palestinian
meeting take place in Cairo.
They saw this as an Israeli
concession of sorts since
Shamir last month had rais-
ed questions about the need
to meet in Cairo.
Israel's embassy in
Washington is working
under the assumption that
Shamir will come to the
United States to address the
General Assembly of the
Council of Jewish Federa-
tions in Cincinnati and visit
Washington, probably on
Nov. 14-15.
Bush administration offi-
cials, meanwhile, have ex-
pressed irritation over Egyp-
tian President Hosni
Mubarak's latest an-
nouncement that he was
now deferring all decisions
on Baker's five-point
framework proposal directly
to the Palestine Liberation
Organization in Tunis.
In a series of strained dip-
lomatic exchanges between
Washington and Cairo in re-
cent days, the Americans
noted that such public pro-
nouncements by Egypt
would further complicate the
U.S. effort to get an Israeli-
Palestinian dialogue off the
ground.
Shamir and other Likud
ministers have repeatedly
made clear that Israel would
not participate in any
discussions with the PLO,
even indirectly.
At the State Department
last week, spokesman
Richard Boucher, clearly
aware of Israeli sensitivities,
sought to differentiate bet-
ween "Palestinians" and
"the PLO." He denied that
the main purpose of the U.S.
diplomacy was "to bring
Israel into a dialogue or
negotiation with the PLO."
But he again noted that the
U.S. was attempting to es-
tablish a Israeli-Palestinian
dialogue "to discuss elec-
tions and the negotiating
process."
That last phrase now has
been incorporated into
Baker's latest draft five-
point framework. ❑
U.S. Moving Swiftly
To Shut Emigre Pipeline
805 EAST MAPLE ROAD • BIRMINGHAM, MI 48009
TWO BLOCKS EAST OF WOODWARD
32
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1989
Washington (JTA) — The
State Department has mov-
ed a step closer toward shut-
ting down the "Vienna-
Rome pipeline" used by tens
of thousands of Soviet Jews
to seek entry to the United
States as refugees.
The department surprised
many by announcing in
Moscow last week that the
United States would no
longer process refugee ap-
plications in Rome for Soviet
Jews and others who did not
obtain their Israeli entry
visas by Nov. 5.
That deadline placed a
new but apparently small
constraint on Soviet Jews
and Evangelical Christians
seeking to enter the United
States with Israeli papers.
On Oct. 1, the United
States shifted its processing
of Soviet refugees from
Rome to Moscow and said
that from that point on,
those wishing to enter the
United States as refugees
would have to apply for U.S.
visas in Moscow.
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