Newspaper Page Text
Meeting between Hassan,
Peres gets U.S. blessing
by Joseph Polakoff
TSTs Washington correspondent
W ASHINGTON—The two-day
meeting between Israeli Prime Min
ister Shimon Peres and Moroccan
King Hassan II at Hassan’ssummer
palace in Ifrane in central Morocco
received all-out endorsement from
the United States, which called on
other governments to “support these
two leaders” in “an historic oppor
tunity to further the cause of peace”
in the Middle East.
Their meeting, marking the first
public talks between top Israeli
and Arab leaders since Egyptian
president Anwar Sadat’s visit to
Jerusalem in November 1977, was
welcomed by Sadat’s successor,
Hosni Mubarak, while Syria sev
ered all ties with Morocco and
Libyan leader Muammar Qadaffi
declared the meeting violated the
treaty of union between Libya and
Morocco. Algeria and both Iran
and Iraq also condemned Hassan.
Unofficial Israeli reaction here
welcomed the meeting, but cau
tioned against optimism of an im
pending Moroccan-Israeli treaty
until the results were known and
implemented. They pointed out
that Peres had met tw'ice previously
in private with Hassan without
fruition, and that Moshe Dayan,
when he was in Prime Minister
Menachem Begin’s cabinet, also
had talked privately with Hassan
without negotiations emerging.
Peres’ previous talks were not in
his capacity as prime minister.
Whether Saudi Arabia, which
financially and diplomatically sup
ports Syria, Jordan and the Pales
tine Liberation Organization, Ara
fat and anti-Arafat wings, would
back Peres and Hassan was doubted
here by Arab sources. “This meet
ing will fragment the Arab world
more,” an Arab correspondent
noted. “We want peace, but not
piece-meal.” The U.S. has consis
tently regarded Saudi Arabia as a
friend and a “moderate” Arab state
interested and helpful in achieving
peace in the region.
The State Department made the
following statement: “Yesterday
(•July 21) Israeli Prime Minister
Peres traveled to Morocco to meet
with King Hassan. We applaud
this courageous initiative by these
two leaders—one which the United
States strongly supports. Our con
sistent position has been that direct
dialogue—direct Arab-lsraeli dia
logue-holds out the best prospect
for progress toward a just and last
ing peace in the Middle East. 1 his
is an historic opportunity to further
the cause of peace in the region,
and the United States urges all
governments to support these
leaders.”
About three hours earlier at the
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White House, presidential spokes
man Larry Speakes said their meet
ing “symbolized a change that has
occurred in the Middle East and
creates a context which can enhance
the peace process.” While Speakes
denounced Syria’s break with Mo
rocco as “a negative step, which
flies in the face of the changing
political environment in the Mid
dle East,” a State Department
spokesman, Pedro Martinez, who
read its statement, declined to
comment on either the Syrian or
Libyan action.
Both the White House and the
State Department sought to avoid
any indication that the United
States was involved in arranging
the Peres-Hassan meeting. Speakes
said he was aware that the White
House learned of the Peres visit
“through diplomatic sources” in
Morocco, but he was not aware of
any relationship between Hassan’s
postponement of his visit to Wash
ington about two weeks ago because
of “fatigue” and the plan for the
meeting with Peres.
Martinez re-emphasized under
questioning that this was the “ini
tiative” of Peres and Hassan. The
official U.S. view that it had no
part in the arrangements was treated
with much skepticism by reporters
who noted, in addition to the Has
san cancellation of his Washington
visit, that the U.S. Ambassador to
Israel Thomas Pickering was in
Jordan the week before the Mo
roccan talks were disclosed. In
welcoming the meeting, some
friends of Israel at the Capitol saw
it as a breakthrough, even if no
treaty flows from it. One view is
that it might precipitate the end of
the Unity government of Israel
with Peres going into an election as
a peacemaker. Yitzhak Shamir is
to assume the prime ministry in
October under the rotation agree
ment.
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Informational Meeting
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PAGE 7 THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE July 25, 1986