At the end of May, King Hussein arrived in Washington and spoke of a new four stage process, that would enable all parties to move to peace. The first stage would be preliminary discussions between the U.S. and a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation without the PLO. The second step would call on the PLO to formally accept Resolution 242 and announce its readiness to recognize and negotiate' with Israel. The third stage would be negotiations between the U.S. and the JordanianPalestinian delegation (with the PLO) on an international conference. The final stage would be the convening of the international conference, with the parties and the five permanent members of the Security Council. Upon hearing a gist of the Hussein plan from Secretary of State Shultz, Mr. Peres reported to the cabinet which rejected any substitutes for direct Israel-Arab negotiations, and rejected any talks with the PLO. Text:
At the weekly cabinet meeting:
The prime minister reported to the cabinet on a message he received from U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz, in the wake of the talks between King Hussein and the leaders of the U.S. administration.
The prime minister made it clear that Israel will welcome any progress towards peace, and that it believes the way to do this is through negotiations which will begin and continue, directly between Israel and a Jordanian or Jordanian-Palestinian delegation.
Israel rejects any substitute for such negotiations, and views an international conference with the participation of countries that do not maintain diplomatic relations with Israel, as a framework which will not serve the goal of peace and which will bring about radicalization between the sides.
The government of Israel rejects the participation of PLO people, or anyone who advocates the destruction of Israel, in the peace negotiations.