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Levy, Baker Fail
To Resolve Dispute

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38

FRIDAY, MAY 1, 1992

Washington (JTA) —
Israeli Foreign Minister
David Levy's meeting here
with Secretary of State
James Baker failed to clear
up differences between the
two sides over the issue of
Palestinian representation
at the scheduled upcoming
round of multilateral talks
on Middle East regional
issues.
But despite the dis-
agreements, Mr. Levy told
reporters that Israel wants
to continue exploring all
avenues that could lead to
peace.
The Palestinians want
representatives of their
diaspora to be allowed to
participate in two of the five
sets of talks on regional
issues: one dealing with
refugee affairs, set to take
place May 13-15 in Ottawa,
and the other dealing with
economic development,
slated for May 12-14 in
Brussels.
Their view is that diaspora
Palestinians are an integral
constituency that should
benefit from any accord on
refugee resettlement or
economic development.
Israel opposes Palestinian
diaspora representation for
fear that it would bolster
international support for a
right of return of Palestin-
ians to Israel on par with the
right enjoyed by Jews.
In a briefing for reporters,
Israel's ambassador to
Washington, Zalman
Shoval, accused Palestinians
of wanting to slip in the
right of return "through the
back door."
Diaspora Palestinians,
meaning those who live out-
side the West Bank and
Gaza Strip, have been
barred from participating in
the five rounds of bilateral
talks involving Israel, Syria,
Lebanon_ and a joint Jorda-
nian-Palestinian delegation.
That was part of the
understanding Israel reach-
ed with the Arabs when Mr.
Baker negotiated the terms
of the current peace process
last summer and fall.
The Palestinians tried to
bring diaspora represent-
atives to the opening of the
multilateral talks in Moscow
in January. When the
United States and Russia
refused them entry, the Pa-
lestinians boycotted the
talks. Syria and Lebanon
also did not participate.
Israel argues that the con-
ditions for the bilateral talks
should apply to the

multilateral talks as well.
But Mr. Baker left the door
open in Moscow to broader
Palestinian participation in
the various sets of talks on
regional issues.
Mr. Levy told reporters
after his 75-minute meeting
with Mr. Baker that Israel is
seeking "changes in deter-
mining Palestinian repre-
sentation in the multilateral
talks."
The United States and
Israel are in agreement,
though, that no Palestinians
should participate in the
talks on arms control, slated
to take place here May 11-
13.
But the United States feels
that Palestinians, though
not those from outside the
territories, should be allow-
ed to take part in the talks
on water resources, conven-

Diaspora
Palestinians are an
integral
constituency that
should benefit
from any accord
on refugee
resettlement or
economic
development.

ing May 12-14 in Vienna,
and the talks on the envi-
ronment, set for the week of
May 18 in Tokyo.
Israel is also concerned
about European participa-
tion in the arms control
talks because of the role of
the European countries in
arming the Arabs.
The Levy-Baker meeting
was hastily arranged after
the Israeli foreign minister
informed the Bush ad-
ministration that he would
be in New York on Monday
evening for a dinner
celebrating 500 years of
Jewish life in Turkey.
During the meeting, Levy
and Baker reportedly did not
discuss the standoff over
Israel's request that the
United States guarantee $10
billion in loans to help reset-
tle immigrants.
But they did delve into
such items as the need to
maintain Israel's qualitative
military edge and the crea-
tion of a joint U.S.-Israeli
team to study this issue.
There was also discussion
of U.S.-Israeli cooperation in
providing Israeli technical
help for the newly indepen-
dent Central Asian republics
of the former Soviet Union.