U.S. Praises Peace Plan but Withholds Full Approval After Talks With Israeli

WASHINGTON â€”  The State Department said Friday that an Israeli peace initiative is promising, but it stopped short of the full endorsement that Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens said he won from Secretary of State James A. Baker III just a day earlier.

The comments appeared to suggest a split between Washington and its close ally over how to approach the initiative, approved by the Israeli Cabinet last weekend in an effort to revive the Middle East peace process.

In an official statement, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher emphasized one element in the four-point Israeli initiative--proposed Palestinian elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip--while Arens stressed a three-way summit among the United States, Israel and Egypt as the first step.

Also, although Arens urged Washington to take the lead in advancing the initiative, Boucher stressed the role of Israel and the Palestinians, saying “the parties must bear the major responsibility to ensure movement forward.�

Boucher also refused to say how the Bush Administration would respond to an Israeli proposal that the United States lead a $2 billion international effort to improve living conditions for Palestinians in refugee camps in the Israeli-occupied territories. The proposal was made in a letter from Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir.

At a breakfast meeting Friday with reporters, Arens, who held talks with Baker on Thursday, insisted that the secretary “pledged his wholehearted support for the (Israeli peace) initiative.�

Asked for comment, Boucher said it has “promising possibilities. . . . Much work needs to be done, but this proposal is certainly a good start in the right direction.�

He stressed the U.S. view that “elections can provide the opportunity to launch a political negotiating process. . . . “