Egypt
Continued from Page 1
president's leadership,
observing that Mubarak is
"so popular in his own coun-
try and with the rest of the
Arab world" that he could
help guide the region to a
peace settlement.
Mubarak has said in the
past that he would meet
with Shamir only if there
were "substantive progress
in the peace process." Now
he may be reversing the
order, on the understanding
that a meeting itself would
advance the process.
Shamir has good reason to
want a summit with Muba-
rak. From a public relations
point of view it would give
his right-wing government
the appearance of ex-
tricating Israel from the cur-
rent stalemate.
Diplomatically, a Shamir-
Mubarak summit would
shift attention from the
Israeli-Palestinian dialogue
sought by Washington. It
might also divert the Ameri-
cans from reviving the idea
of an international peace
conference, which Israel re-
jects.
Swedish Foreign Minister
Sten Andersen told a
visiting group of Israeli lef-
tists in Stockholm last week
that U.S. Secretary of State
James Baker had told him
the Bush administration is
losing patience with Israel
and would give it only lim-
ited time to agree to Baker's
formula for a dialogue with
the Palestinians.
Baker reportedly told
Andersen that if Israel's re-
sponse was not sufficiently
affirmative, he would pro-
pose an international con-
ference.
That report matched
strong indications in
Jerusalem that Washington
is dissatisfied with Shamir's
June 28 reply to a letter
from Bush asking whether
Israel was prepared to accept
the Baker proposal for
preliminary peace talks.
The talks are aimed at
hammering out the
modalities of elections that
Israel has proposed to hold
in the West Bank and Gaza
Strip. Those elected would
negotiate with Israel on lim-
ited Palestinian self-rule
and eventually the final sta-
tus of the territories.
Shamir's letter expressed
Israel's continued support
for the peace plan. But it re-
jected the idea of holding
preliminary talks with a
delegation that would in-
clude Arabs with residency
in east Jerusalem or Pales-
tinians deported from the
JTA correspondent Howard
Rosenberg in Washington con-
tributed to this report.
territories, as Baker has
proposed.
In Washington, State
Department spokeswoman
Margaret Tutwiler said
Monday that the United
States would be responding
to the Shamir letter "in
some shape, fashion or
form," but she declined to
say how or when.
Meanwhile, Palestine Lib-
eration Organization leader
Yassir Arafat may have
sensed that closer contacts
between Egypt and Israel
are imminent.
The Kuwaiti newspaper A-
Siassa reported last Sunday
that Arafat will visit Cairo
"within a few days" to brief
Mubarak on the mood in the
PLO after the U.S. suspen-
sion of its dialogue with the
PLO last month. Arafat also
is to be briefed on Meguid's
meetings in Washington.
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Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Kollek Proves
City's Safety
Jerusalem (JTA) — Mayor
Teddy Kollek this week con-
fronted the escalating
violence in Jerusalem by
holding a leisurely meeting
with his aides at an Arab
coffee shop near the
Damascus Gate, in the heart
of the Old City.
The 79-year-old mayor in-
vited the news media to help
make his point that the
security situation in the
capital is not as grave as
some outsiders seem to
believe and that Jews should
have no qualms about enter-
ing Arab neighborhoods.
"I want to set a personal
example, so that people will
once again visit here like
before," Kollek said.
Although the coffee shop is
only a few hundred yards
from City Hall, very few
Jews now venture this far
into the Old City. Some have
been attacked in the narrow
alleyways. Jewish-owned
cars parked on Saladin
Street, the main
thoroughfare of east
Jerusalem, have been set on
fire. And for the first time in
months, riots have broken
out in Arab suburbs.
The fact that reporters
found it newsworthy for the
mayor to be sitting in an
Arab cafe was itself an in-
dication of the tension in the
city.
Kollek admitted "there is
reason to be afraid, but it is
exaggerated. We don't run
away every time there is a
little fear." He observed that
tension between Jews and
Arabs in the city cannot be
eradicated, but can be
reduced.
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 11