Israel Foreign Policy Middle East

Representatives of Israel, its Arab adversaries and other participants such as the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, the European Community and the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council meet in the Canadian capital Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the Palestinian refugee issue. The meeting completes the second round of the Middle East multilateral talks following earlier meetings on the economy, environment, arms control and other regional topics.

Representatives of Israel, its Arab adversaries and other participants such as the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, the European Community and the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council meet in the Canadian capital Wednesday and Thursday to discuss the Palestinian refugee issue. The meeting completes the second round of the Middle East multilateral talks following earlier meetings on the economy, environment, arms control and other regional topics.

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev told Jordan's King Hussein on Tuesday that the United States and Israel are blocking attempts to convene an international conference on the Middle East, the official Tass news agency reported. Gorbachev and Hussein agreed that only an international gathering would be able to reach a comprehensive and fair settlement of the Arab-Israeli dispute, Tass said.

In ISRAEL, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, left, in his first policy address to Parliament on the Gulf War, vowed that Israel would never take part in an international conference on Middle East peace. In MOROCCO, at least 300,000 people took to the streets of the capital, Rabat, to show support for Iraq. Demonstrators demanded that allied troops, including Moroccan soldiers, withdraw from the Gulf.

In ISRAEL, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, left, in his first policy address to Parliament on the Gulf War, vowed that Israel would never take part in an international conference on Middle East peace. In MOROCCO, at least 300,000 people took to the streets of the capital, Rabat, to show support for Iraq. Demonstrators demanded that allied troops, including Moroccan soldiers, withdraw from the Gulf.

Israel's Irish-born President Chaim Herzog, claiming the "gift of the Blarney Stone," told a joint session of Congress on Tuesday that progress toward Middle East peace is "inexorable," although he conceded that even within his own country there are disagreements on the methods of achieving it. "We see as our major challenge the achievement of peace between us and our Arab neighbors, including the Palestinian people," Herzog said.

Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev told Jordan's King Hussein on Tuesday that the United States and Israel are blocking attempts to convene an international conference on the Middle East, the official Tass news agency reported. Gorbachev and Hussein agreed that only an international gathering would be able to reach a comprehensive and fair settlement of the Arab-Israeli dispute, Tass said.

Israel's Irish-born President Chaim Herzog, claiming the "gift of the Blarney Stone," told a joint session of Congress on Tuesday that progress toward Middle East peace is "inexorable," although he conceded that even within his own country there are disagreements on the methods of achieving it. "We see as our major challenge the achievement of peace between us and our Arab neighbors, including the Palestinian people," Herzog said.