IDN i, lr l.l ruesday THE MIDDLElrr EAST SPEAKS FOR ISELF zzocLrsst MIDEAST & PALESTINE 15 Arab FMs to meet this week in Damascus @.rj) Akhbar al-Klaleej: "Israel's secret sabotage plans" (0.,t) Palestinian leftists join Islamists in opposing the talks at Madrid otzt ISRAEL Will Shamir lead the delegation to Madrid? o.zt Annexin g l3%o of West Bank keeps most settlers in Israel rpst Sh.- tttu.t-etub cor of fund s @.2) JORDAN "At Madrid: Time to end the games that kill" @st LEBANON French press for parliamentary elections in talks with Hrawi ozzt Freed US hostage flies to Germany for family reunion rpzrr IRAQ Harvard team warns that thousands will die without imported food, medicine and parts rpzet TURKEY Demirel ponders coalition options rr.zzr Vol. 5, No. 2O5 Mfffir Publisher MediaGen (UK) Limited ISRAEL Directors F.C. Najia and M.S. Sabbagh Clnnces of swnmit tall<s with Editor-in-Chief Mubarak and King Hussein F.C. Najia Co.Editor-in-Chief (USA) Imad Shehadeh Will Shamir lead the Assistant Editors delegation to Madrid? Lydia Georgi, Najm Jarrah Administration Man ager Micheline Hazou Eight days before the Middle East peace conference in Madrid, Israel has still to decide who will lead its delegation. Subscriptions Coordinator The decision is likely to be taken on Wednesday, with Prime Minister Claude Khoury Yitzhak Shamir still not ruling out the possibility of his own attendance. There is also growing speculation that Egyptian President Hosni Middle East Correspondents Mubarak will attend the conference, thus raising tle chances of the two SalamehNe'mat Anunan leaders holding their first summit meeting. Z.Mansotx, Beirut In an interview this week, Mubarak said he would meet Shamir if that Hani ShulaallalL Cairo would conribute !o peace. F. Sayegh, Danwscus Tuesday's lerusakm Post said Shamir's presence alongside Presidens Gulay Eskikay a, I st anb ul George Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev heightens the possibility that Jordan's Daoud Kuttab, J er us al ern King Hussein may also be asked to come to Madrid. Elizabetlr Ep,p,l, J er us al e m Abdul Jalil Mustafl Kuwait Syrian President Hafez Assad has so far spurned efforts by Secretary of Mohammed Omar Ahmad, M cmatna State James Baker o bring him to tre conference. Abdallah ash-Shihi, R iy adh Israeli officials say the U.S. is working behind the scenes to ensure that Khosrow Soltani, T ehr an each delegation is represented by its lop leaders, so as to generate excitement about a tuming point oward peace. Mideast Mirror "The prime minister is considering whether to attend," Shamir aide is a daily digest (Monday to Friday) Yossi Ahimeir said Monday night. of the rnajor business arul political "One reason for going is that Bush and Gorbachev will be tlrere. But the news anl views in the Arabic, prime minister believes ttre major event is not the opening ceremony, but Ilebrew, Turkish and Per:;iun press, the negotiations. Shamir will consult with Foreign Minister Daviv Levy with day-of-publication de-livery. It and Defense Minister Moshe Arens and then decide." is available by private subscription. Levy had been looking forward to leading the delegation, as he has been one of the most passionate advocate of the talks inside the Likud-led MediaGen (UK) Ltd. coalition government. lst & 2nd Floors, Unit C, "there's Old Chelsea Mews, 18 Danvers S t. However, an aide to Levy said Monday that definitely some L,ondon SW3 5AT merit in Shamir's leading the delegation and Levy accompanying hirn." Telephorc: Wl-351-2399 (3 lines) lrvy's own thoughs are unlnown. T e I efax : 07 | -3 52 -6297 ; Telu:915669MEDIA Some believe I-evy would like Shamir to attend the conference because Israel is likely 1o be represented with difficult choices. Mideast Media Services (USA) U.S. officials have privately said, "It is important that Shamk attends so a P.O. Box 3516 that he has a stake in tlrc process succeeding." Annapolis, Maryland (MD) i. 21403-0516 U.S.A. Some Shamir watchers believe that for that very rEason, he would want T et : (301) 26L -247 7 I Q 01 ) 626 - 1328 !o distance himself from the talks should they fail. But others point that he T e I efax : (301) 261 -20 66 could score public relations poins if he goes o Madrid while Assad stays home. @ All rights reserved Shamir, visiting Strasbourg to addres members of the European D uplication andl or transmissirtn in wlale or in part without the editor's Parliament later today, Tuesday, spoke of his hopes for peace when he met wlitten permission is strictly reporters briefly atter a dinner on Monday attended by members of the prohibited. European Jewish Congress. Tuesday22 October'91 Mfi,fbr He was asked whether Israel might freeze its se[lement drive in Joel Marcus in Haoretz: the occupied territories after the conference opens, as Palestinian Shamir sltould lrcad the Israeli delegation to leaders say they expect. Shamir Madrid. Not only because of the world replied: "There are no occupied attention, bw to underscore the importance the territories," reflecting his belief that Jewish people are in the West Bank Israeli governmcnt attaches to the peace and Gaza Srip by right. conference. Sltnmir's attendance will compel Because is nol. a head of state, Egypt and Jordan to send Mubarak and Hussein, Shamir cannot address a plenary while Assad will be conspicuous by his absence session of ttre Europcan Parliament, but will take part in a debate wittr members in a committee room Zvi Gilat in Hadashot: barred to press and public before Slnmir wants to attend the Madrid conference. flying home ttris evening. Since it is clear beyond any doubt tlnt Assad Shamir Monday told reporters at Ben-Gurion airport as he left for will not attend, Shamir's participation will Strasbourg that Israel still had to underscore Syria's unwillingness for a real ensure the Palestinian delegation settlement. The possibility of Shnmir attending met Israel's terms. when was and Washington was said ro be arose it learned tlnt Mubarak issuing 20 invitations for Palestin- Hussein ttay take part. ians to join the talks -- 14 for the But if a meeting with Mttbarak cannot be delegates and six for advisors. clinched, Shamir is unlikely to go "Nobody spoke to us of that. And we didn't agree to such a thing. That truly surprises us," Shamir Al Hamishmar: said. "This is an issue we must The head of the Lilad parliamentary faction, analyze, examine emd we will see if Haim Corfu, is proposing legislation so tlnt no this list meets fte rules we have accepted... We still have to check settlement can be evacunted against its residents' the names and we will act wishes, if it was set up by a decision of the government, the Jewish Agency or the World A leadcr comment in T-uesday's Zionist Federation. The proposal the Post tilled "Shamir's astonish- slnws tlwt ment" said, "The exclusion of parti- Lilad has not changed its skin cipation by the PLO has been a and that Lihtd politicians do not trust their fundamental Israeli condition, and it representatives in the government,first and has been accepted by the Bush the prime minister administration. In fact, the Israeli foremost negotiators, fearing a back-door PLO entry into the negotiations, re ceived as s urance s fr o m S e cre tary of State James Baker that there criteria nuntioned in the leuer of negotiating uam and PLO head- would be no'alternative' P ale stinian assurance, this group includes quarters in Tunis. To all intents and delegation which might replace the Faisal Husseini, Hanan Aslvawi purposes, it will be tley who will one meeting the Israeli Uiteria. and four of their colleagues -- all be negotiating with Israel, and they "But yesterday, Prime Minister self-proclainud PLO proxies who will be doing so on behalf of the Yitzlwk Shamir was 'astonished' by are either Jerusalemites or residents PLO. The nominal mcmbers of the reports that individual invitations abroad. delegation will be little more than had been sent not only to the 14 "T lat the se people are purported- puppets. Not surprisingly, Yaser P ale s tinian member s of t he ne go ti at- ly members of just a consulting Ar$at proclainud yesterday that the ing team, but to a six-member body is a technicality. They have PLO will be an active parfier in the P alestinian' cons ul ti n g' dele gat ion. openly proclainud that their func- negotiations. In direct contavention of the tion is to act as liaison between tlu "Thus, even before the confer- Tuesfuy22 October'91 Mfffir ence lus begun, one of the Ameri- too many hopes on the oulcome. "Assad is tryrng t0 set the tone can asswances has been vitiated, He himself believed Israel of the process, and that is quite perlwps not absolutell, literally, but should attend the conference. It clear." certainly in spiril. It is one thing to must stick to its guns, he said. But Israel is not necessarily concede that the PLO's reign of "I wholeheartedly trust the bound, as America is. There is no terror in the administered territories prime minister, because I know his reason for Shamir !o play !o makes tacit PLO approval of the opinions and positions. And also Assads one. Palestinian delegates ner:essary if his ability to stand fasL" "Yitzhak Shamir should head tluy are to stay alive. It is quite Moda'i offered his view that the tsraeli delegation !o the peace another to make a mockery of Levy, his old constraint colleague, conference." oficial U.S.