Middle East in Search of Partners

The visit was shrouded in deepest secrecy, its details known only to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, and a few top , officials. Early last week, Osama el Baz, Mubarak's closest adviser, boarded a helicopter in Cairo and flew to the Egyptian border. He was driven to Jerusalem, where he went directly to Peres' house. At the same time, Peres, who had been attending a Labor Party meeting, announced that he was not feeling well and left for his home. There the two men met for nearly five hours before el Baz slipped out of the back door at 1:30 a.m. and returned to Egypt.

El Baz's get-together with Peres, the highest-level contact between the two countries since Israel's 1982 invasion of Lebanon, was the most promising development in a sudden burst of diplomacy in the Middle East over the past three weeks. In the days following el Baz's trip, two Israeli envoys visited Cairo while a second Egyptian official traveled to Jerusalem. Though the efforts could collapse at any time, the very fact that Mubarak and Peres were working together in the search for a Middle East settlement heartened diplomats in the region. In Washington, there was concern about the fragility of the latest initiatives, based most notably on the ability of Syria and militants within the Palestine Liberation Organization to scuttle any proposal, but Reagan Administration officials expressed willingness to play a part. "The U.S. is ready to resume its role as a full partner in the search for peace whenever all the parties are prepared to rejoin," said Assistant Secretary of State Richard Murphy.

The purpose of el Baz's trip to Jerusalem was to discuss a Mubarak proposal for talks between Israel and a joint delegation of Jordanians and Palestinians. The Egyptian President, who announced his plan last week, suggested that the U.S. first talk with the Jordanians and Palestinians in Washington. If such an encounter proved fruitful, the Arab team would negotiate directly with Israel, possibly in Cairo. An international conference under United Nations auspices then would be convened to approve any bilateral settlement.

After conferring with el Baz, Peres announced his support for the Mubarak initiative. Though major stumbling blocks remain, the Egyptians and Israelis reached an accommodation on the sensitive issue of the P.L.O.'s role. Peres accepted a formula in which Palestinians who are not "declared members" of the P.L.O. could take part in the talks. Peres, moreover, did not insist that the P.L.O. be forbidden to pick those Palestinians, thus giving P.L.O. Leader Yasser Arafat the opportunity to play a behind-the-scenes role. Peres, however, rejected the first stage of Mubarak's plan--talks between the U.S. and a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation--on the grounds that Israel should not be excluded from any part of the negotiations.