
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 14, 1990                   TAG: 9006140059
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-11   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

BAKER PRODS ISRAEL ON MIDEAST PEACE TALKS

The United States will stop its efforts to set up Mideast peace talks unless Israel agrees to proceed without delay, Secretary of State James A. Baker III said Wednesday.

Baker, testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged the new government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir to accept the U.S. plan for talks with Palestinians. Those talks could lead to elections among the 1.7 million Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

If the new Israeli government puts unacceptable conditions for Palestinian participation in the talks, "there won't be any dialogue, there won't be any peace," Baker said.

Meanwhile, Shamir and Foreign Minister David Levy said they wanted American guarantees that Israel would not have to speak to the Palestine Liberation Organization or discuss any Palestinian state in U.S.-proposed peace talks.

Baker's comments are expected to exacerbate tensions with the Israeli government, which already has embarked on a collision course with Washington by pledging to spend more on Jewish settlements.

by CNB