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PAGE 24 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE December 7, 1984
U.S
Continued from page 1.
vor of what is realistic and feasible,
and we continue to think the most
practical course is direct negotia
tions between Israel and the Arab
parties directly concerned, as en
visioned in the Camp David frame
work.”
Romberg said Murphy’s trip to
the region, his second in recent
weeks, would be to discuss “a num
ber of things, with specific regard”
about the question of southern
Lebanon. He also pointed out that
President Reagan’s September
1982 initiative “remains our pol
icy.” The initiative, which suggests
putting the West Bank in associa
tion with Jordan, was rejected by
the Likud governments, but Peres
has indicated willingness to discuss
it.
Before the communique emerged,
Department specialists continued
to entertain hope that Hussein will
at some time accept Camp David,
even though he was denouncing it,
and that he would also quit trying
to push for an international con
ference. He also said that “the as
sumption” is that Egypt would con
tinue to remain “fully suportive” of
the Camp David accords.
One Department specialist,
speaking on condition of anonym
ity, says Hussein had stated his op
position to Camp David many
times before and felt the king’s
views are “a rhetorical position
that can be changed.” He noted,
“Rhetoric is important as a part of
Middle East politics.” The Jor-
danian-Egyptian renewal of rela
tions, he said, is “a step forward,”
but found “no indications” that
mean a “joining” of Egypt, Jordan
and the PLO in a group for negoti
ation with Israel.
Hussein did not criticize the ac
cords when he addressed the Yasir
Arafat wing of the PLO in Amman
two weeks before the Cairo sum
mit. In Cairo, Hussein told Egyp
tian parliament he opposed Camp
David “from the start.” In his
speech to parliament later, Mubar
ak did not defend Camp David and
“like Hussein, praised the PLO par
ticipants in Amman. The PLO
meeting rejected Resolution 242.
The day after Hussein’s Cairo
speech, Jordan’s Prime Minister
Ahmed Obeidat demanded that
the U.S. “as a superpower” should
force Israel to make “a total with
drawal.” Jordan contends East
Jerusalem and the walled city be
long to the Arabs. The resolution
does not specify borders while
calling for withdrawal from “oc
cupied territories” and secure and
recognized borders for Israel.
George Shultz
While making his first visit to
Cairo in eight years, Hussein
placed a wreath at the tomb of
Egypt’s unknown soldier, but he
deliberately avoided stopping at
the grave of assassinated President
Anwar Sadat a few steps away.
Sadat negotiated the accords and
the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.
In a thrust at the Reagan admini
stration, Obeidat said Jordan
would soon sign a final agreement
to buy more weapons from the So
viet Union and that Moscow had a
“fundamental role” in a Middle
East settlement. When Hussein a
year ago denounced Congress and
Israel, President Reagan withdrew
an offer to provide Stinger missiles
to Jordan. Egypt receives 2.2 bil
lion dollars in grants this year
from the United States. Some
analysts say Mubarak would have
scrapped the Egyptian-Israeli
treaty were it not for this financial
assistance from Washington.
—Israel
Continued from page 1.
under U.N. auspices with the two
superpowers, U.S. and U.S.S.R.,
in attendance along with other per
manent members of the Security
Council, and the PLO as an equal
partner in the negotiations.
This was specifically called for by
Hussein in his Cairo speech Sunday
during which the Jordanian ruler
fiercely denounced the Camp Da
vid process on grounds that it failed
to deal with Israel’s occupation of
the West Bank, Gaza Strip, Golan
Heights and East Jerusalem. Ac
cording to foreign press reports,
the vehemence of Hussein’s attack
on Camp David stunned the mem
bers of the Egyptian Parliament.
Hussein’s speech was followed
by three days of talks with Muba
rak. It was their first summit meet
ing since Jordan resumed diplo
matic relations with Cairo on Sept.
25 which it broke in 1979 when Egypt
singed its peace treaty with Israel.
The rapprochement between
Egypt and Jordan was viewed as a
positive development in Western
circles which saw the coming to
gether of two moderate Arab states
as an enhancement of peace pros
pects in the Middle East. President
Reagan expressed such a view only
last week, according to a transcript
of his interview with The Washing
ton Times, released by the White
House.
Israel, too, regarded the resumed
ties between Cairo and Amman
with cautious optimism. Prime
Minister Shimon Peres, more so than
Shimon Peres
his Likud predecessors, has been
urging Hussein to enter into talks
with Israel with no preconditions.
In his address to the Knesset
Tuesday, before the joint com
munique, he promised that any
proposals Jordan might put for
ward in the course of such negoti
ations “in conditions of equality
and mutual respect” would be “ser
iously” considered by Israel.
Israel, while it accepted Resolu
tion 242 and acknowledged it as
the basis of the 1978 Camp David
agreements, steadfastly maintains
that the Camp David formula is
the only viable framework for a
Middle East peace settlement.
Israel has flatly rejected an in
ternational conference which
would inject the Soviet Union di
rectly into the peace process and
has made clear that it will, under
no circumstances, deal with the
PLO which it regards as a terrorist
organization.
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