BACKGROUND

HELEN DAVIS

Foreign Correspondent

ecretary of State
James Baker is likely
to encounter a
/- suspicious and deeply
troubled Israeli government
when he visits Jerusalem
again in an attempt to win
support for peace negotia-
tions.
Before leaving Washing-
ton this week, Mr. Baker
said he had discussed his
mission with President Bush
and "we both believe that as
long as there is any hope for
progress toward peace in the
Middle East we should con-
tinue to try — and we intend
to do that."
He added that he was pro-
posing a "very broad con-
ference of a nature and a
type that has never before
taken place."
The Israelis are concerned
not only by the determina-
tion with which he is pursu-
ing his mission but also by
the increasingly prominent
involvement of the Soviet
Union in Middle East diplo-
macy.
The Arab world has long
insisted that Moscow is a
critical component in
negotiations with Israel and
that its imprimatur on any
agreement represents the
essential legitimacy
necessary in a rapproche-
ment with the Jewish state.
Late last month, Mr.Baker
invited the Soviet Union to
co-sponsor a peace con-
ference, and Soviet Foreign
Minister Aleksander
Bessmertnykh, who is also
visiting Jerusalem this
week, was expected to an-
nounce the resumption of
full diplomatic relations
with Israel.
Such a step will overcome
Israel's longstanding objec-
tion to Soviet participation
in the peace process and will
undermine a major plank of

Artwork by Alexander Hunt er of the Washington Tones. Copyright. 1991, Alexander Hunter. Distributed try Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

Waiting For Baker

A suspicious and worried Jerusalem
prepares for the next round of the
administration's peace efforts.

its procedural objections to
negotiations.
Israeli officials acknowl-
edged this week that "the
moment of truth in our rela-
tions with the United States
is now fast approaching."
They fear that if Israel
emerges as the principal
obstruction to United States
ambitions for negotiations,
they will be left dangerously
isolated, both diplomatically
and economically.
There is concern in
Jerusalem that if Mr. Baker
fails to convene a regional
peace conference, he will
dump the issue into the lap
of the United Nations
Security Council, with
Washington likely to throw
its weight behind UN
demands for an interna-
tional peace conference.
Israel fears this would im-
pose a solution detrimental
to her vital interests.
While Washington focuses
its impatience on Israel for
mounting obstacles to such
talks, some Arab states are
also challenging Mr. Baker's
efforts to win agreement for
his two-track approach to
negotiations involving direct
Israeli talks with its Arab
neighbors and the Palestin-
ians.

Saudi Arabia has endorsed
his efforts but has itself
refused to participate in
such a process, while Syrian
President Hafez Assad has
insisted that Israeli
withdrawal from the oc-
cupied territories is a
precondition to talks, which,
he adds, must be held under
Security Council auspices.
But the State Department
left no doubt about whom
Washington considered to be
the main obstacle to talks.

Israeli officials
acknowledged this
week that "the
moment of truth in
our relations with
the U.S. is fast
approaching."

An unusually terse state-
ment following the last
Baker visit to Jerusalem
said the United States was
awaiting "answers from the
Israeli government before
we can move this process
forward."
Relations between Wash-
ington and Jerusalem took a
further nose-dive last week,
when Israel's controversial
Housing Minister, Ariel

Sharon, found official doors
slammed shut in his face
when he visited Washing-
ton.
This was interpreted as an
expression of U.S. anger
over his establishment of
two new Jewish settlements
in the occupied West Bank
during Mr. Baker's visit to
the region the previous
week.
Israeli Prime Minister
Yitzhak Shamir described
the snub, which included the
abrupt cancellation of a
scheduled meeting between
Mr. Sharon and Secretary of
Housing Jack Kemp, as
"inappropriate treatment."
But Israel's ability to exact
"revenge" for Washington's
snub — and its ability to
continue prevaricating over
the peace process -- is se-
verely circumscribed by its
desperate need to convince
Washington to guarantee a
$10 billion loan to assist its
efforts to house the flood of
Soviet immigrants.
United States Ambassador
to Israel William Brown
touched on this highly sen-
sitive pressure point when
he accused Israel of giving
"tremendous priority" to the
issue of settlements and
warned the Israeli govern-

ment not to count on foreign
assistance to absorb its new
immigrants.
Since the territories were
conquered in the 1967 Six
Day War, about 80,000 Jews
have been settled in the
West Bank, Gaza Strip and
the Golan Heights, an act
that is widely perceived as a
deliberate attempt to pre-
empt the chances of a resolu-
tion to the conflict based on
an exchange of land for
peace.
There is also concern in
Israel that the annual U.S.
aid padkage of $3 billion,
now under consideration by
the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, may be jeopar-
dized if Israel continues to
stall on a peace conference.
The siege atmosphere in
Jerusalem this week could
be detected in an escalating
internecine dispute, which
took a sinister new turn
when Mr. Sharon accused
his detractors of behaving
like "sneaks" for having
revealed Israel's settlement
activity in the West Bank.
Mr. Sharon's attack was
directed at the Peace Now
movement and a group of
left-wing Israeli politicians
who are currently visiting
the United States to express
their opposition to the
government's settlement
policies and their support for
a solution based on an
exchange of land for peace.
Peace Now, in turn, blam-
ed Mr. Sharon and the
Shamir government "for the
damage to U.S.-Israeli rela-
tions and the confrontation
with the U.S. Jewish com-
munity, which are the direct
result of the settlement
policy."
Clearly, the screws are
tightening on the govern-
ment to respond favorably to
Mr. Baker's proposals.
Whether or not Israeli
leaders will have another
chance may depend on the
latest round of talks. CI

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