Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 13, 1991 TAG: 9103130370
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From The Washington Post/ and The Associated Press
DATELINE: JERUSALEM LENGTH: Medium
One step would be a fresh endorsement of U.N. resolutions calling for exchanging occupied territory for peace.
In meetings with Shamir and other Israeli leaders, Baker outlined a "range of different kinds of steps" that Israel could take, and Shamir was noncommittal, officials said.
Later, Baker urged 10 Palestinian leaders from the Israeli-occupied territories to get involved in the peace process, but they said they would not act without the participation of the Palestine Liberation Organization.
The PLO announced early today that it was dropping its demand to be treated as an equal partner in negotiations with Israel and will accept something less than the complete West Bank and Gaza Strip for a Palestinian state, Sky News television reported.
It said the new PLO stance is part of an initiative aimed at bringing Israel to the negotiating table and was outlined by Bassam Abu Sharif, chief political adviser to PLO chairman Yasser Arafat.
The discussions here, and last weekend with eight Arab foreign ministers in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, seemed to suggest that the Persian Gulf War had left all parties open to new ideas for restarting the peace process but little consensus on how to do so. Baker's strategy is to persuade the Arabs and Israelis to act in concert, with Israel trading concessions to the Palestinians for a process of detente with Arab states.
A senior Israeli official said Baker "did not come with any agenda or peace plan or any step which they recommended to take. They were just explaining the process." That process is to move simultaneously on two tracks: to encourage Israel to open a dialogue with the Palestinians and to encourage the Arab states to ease their state of belligerency against Israel.
Baker "says that each party will find it easier to take one track if the other party takes the other track," the Israeli official said.
According to both Israeli and U.S. accounts, Baker is attempting to coax reluctant players back into a peace process by telling each side that their concessions could cause the other to move as well. But it is clear Baker has not yet persuaded either side to take the first step.
Sky News said Sharif outlined in a London interview four key points the Palestine Liberation Organization would concede:
The PLO would drop its demand to be treated as an equal partner in negotiations with the Israelis. Palestinians nominated by the PLO but not members of the organization would do the talking.
It would accept something less than the complete West Bank and Gaza Strip for theior Palestinian state, compromising with the Israelis on where the borders would lie.
The state would be demilitarized for a transitional period, when the United Nations would be responsible for security.
Arafat would not necessarily be the state's leader. The Palestinian people would hold democratic elections to decide their governbment.
Among the ideas Baker laid on the table Tuesday was that Israel could state its willingness to implement U.N. Resolution 242, which calls for Israel to give up occupied Arab land in exchange for peace.
Israel accepted the resolution many years ago but it has since returned the Sinai to Egypt; Shamir has said it will not give up any more territory to win peace.
by CNB