The Return of the Diplomats

If any good has come from the recent explosion of violence in the Israeli- occupied territories, it has been the revival of U.S. efforts to promote a Middle East peace plan. As outlined by officials in Washington last week, the proposal calls for indirect negotiations involving Israel, Egypt and Jordan, as well as Palestinian representatives from the occupied territories. These discussions, which presumably would be conducted by a shuttling U.S. envoy, would establish some measure of Palestinian self-government in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, culminating in local elections next September. The newly chosen Palestinian officials would meet in December with the Israelis, under the aegis of some as yet undefined international entity to negotiate the permanent status of the Arab territories conquered by Israel in 1967.

The American initiative, largely based on the moribund 1978 Camp David plan calling for an interim period of Palestinian autonomy, telescopes the earlier agreement's five-year time span into a matter of months. The Reagan Administration's newfound sense of urgency was clearly inspired by the latest Palestinian uprising. The U.S. was also prodded into action by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who in Washington two weeks ago promoted a plan calling for a six-month truce and the convening of an international conference. The Administration combined some of Mubarak's suggestions with elements of previous proposals into what Secretary of State George Shultz last week called a "blend of ideas."

The response from Israel's divided leadership was ambivalent. Though hard- liners like Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin have been warning that the Palestinians should not be rewarded for their violence with negotiations, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres publicly applauded the U.S. initiative. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir initially indicated that he might accept "something less" than the Camp David timetable. But under strong pressure from the right wing of his Likud bloc, he expressed little flexibility, telling the Knesset he would make no "territorial concessions" and that the interim autonomy period would have to last for the full five years.

The Palestine Liberation Organization and Syria rejected the plan out of hand. But the Reagan Administration, seeking support from more moderate Arabs, last week sent Special Envoy Philip Habib to Amman to brief Jordan's King Hussein on the plan. The King reportedly endorsed Washington's stepped-up involvement but remained noncommittal about specifics. The U.S. will launch a diplomatic blitz this week in support of its proposals. Under Secretary of State Michael Armacost and Assistant Secretary of State Richard Murphy will fly to Israel. Murphy will also visit several Arab capitals. But it seems a long shot at best for the U.S., in the waning months of the Reagan presidency, to come up with a solution that has eluded the region for four decades.