East Peace Talks

The United Nations' repeal of its 16-year-old resolution equating Zionism with racism is expected to encourage Israel to continue participating in the delicate Middle East peace talks, although Arab opponents of the repeal say it will impede peace efforts and inflame extremists on both sides.The Evening Sun wants to know whether you think this vote will help bring peace to the Middle East or will it hamper that effort?Call SUNDIAL, the Baltimore Sun's telephone information system, on a Touch-Tone phone.

Peace? Piece of cake. If Navy can beat Notre Dame, if Speaker of the House Mike Busch can support a slots bill, surely anything is possible in Annapolis. Those extraordinary events, of course, were years, even decades, in the making, so maybe we shouldn't expect another Annapolis anomaly to emerge from the Middle East peace talks at the U.S. Naval Academy that are scheduled to both begin and end in a single day. That seems like barely enough time to fill out the Hello-I'm-Mahmoud name tag, let alone get the coffee orders straight, but then again, the official line on the confab is that it's not so much about signing a big peace treaty as just talking about talking some more in the future.

COLLEGE PARK -- Former President Jimmy Carter reminisced yesterday to a packed room at the University of Maryland about the groundbreaking Middle East peace talks 20 years ago.Carter's talk, in which at one point he seemed to choke back tears, came as part of a 20th-anniversary commemoration of the historic Camp David summit between Israel and Egypt. Those talks paved the way for other Middle East negotiations, such as the one recently undertaken by President Clinton at Wye Plantation."The talks of 1978 showed that it was possible for Arabs and Israelis who had warred with each other, and who had killed each other, that they could find peace," Carter said in the student union ballroom, where more than 500 people gathered.

JERUSALEM -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began a new round of Middle East peace talks yesterday with an acknowledgment that her three-month-old initiative is starting slowly and going back over basic issues that divide Israel and the Palestinians. Rice, who met yesterday with top Israeli and Palestinian officials, described her method as a "step-by-step" approach that requires spending time on such tasks as sitting patiently with leaders from both sides to learn their views.

Israel and the Vatican will end years of diplomatic standoff by establishing official relations by the end of this month, Israeli officials and American religious leaders say.The 14-point agreement is to be signed in Jerusalem Dec. 30 after being initialed in Rome the day before, they said yesterday.Although the Vatican has recognized Israel, its unwillingness to establish full diplomatic ties has been a sore point between Catholics and Jews.The agreement, which follows 18 months of intensive, behind-the-scenes diplomacy, is said to include a pledge by the Catholic Church to join Israel in new efforts to oppose anti-Semitism.

JERUSALEM -- In an unusual attack on U.S. policy, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel accused the Clinton administration yesterday of yielding to Palestinian pressure with its latest proposals in the Middle East peace talks.Mr. Rabin was reacting unhappily to a U.S. draft paper that the administration hopes can become the basis for agreement on the principles for future Palestinian self-rule in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.The U.S. proposals have also won no friends among Palestinian negotiators, who warned this weekend that the talks, after making virtually no headway over the last 20 months, were in danger of total collapse.

BEIJING -- China and Israel established formal diplomatic ties today, a move that will open the way for Chinese participation in the next round of the Middle East peace talks next week in Moscow.Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy signed a diplomatic protocol, capping a quiet, decadelong campaign by Israel to gain China's recognition."This is a moment we have awaited for a long time," Mr. Levy said upon arriving in Beijing.Long a major champion of the Palestinian cause, China has rejected diplomatic relations with Israel for 40 years -- even though Israel was one of the first countries to recognize the Communist Chinese government in the early 1950s.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III is dragging the unhappy campers of Madrid kicking and screaming to Washington for the second round of Middle East peace talks. The catch for the Dec. 4 meeting agenda is that the participants can no longer pretend that it is procedural and not about substance.Jordan and Lebanon accepted the invitations. In doing so, while Syria was still undecided, Lebanon's government gave the appearance of making its own policy, which few credit it with doing. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir made little secret of his annoyance at not being supported by Washington in demanding Middle East venues for the series of bilateral and multi-lateral negotiations.

UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations Security Council, closing the book on the dispute over Israel's deportation of more than 400 Palestinians six weeks ago, again urged Israel yesterday to take back the deportees and called on the Palestinian delegation to return to the stalled Middle East peace talks.Under a complex agreement worked out in the last few weeks, the Security Council told Israel that it welcomed its decision to readmit 101 of the Palestinians deported to a barren strip of land separating the Israeli and Lebanese frontiers but that it expected Israel to comply fully with its order to take all of them back.

JERUSALEM -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice began a new round of Middle East peace talks yesterday with an acknowledgment that her three-month-old initiative is starting slowly and going back over basic issues that divide Israel and the Palestinians. Rice, who met yesterday with top Israeli and Palestinian officials, described her method as a "step-by-step" approach that requires spending time on such tasks as sitting patiently with leaders from both sides to learn their views.

COLLEGE PARK -- Former President Jimmy Carter reminisced yesterday to a packed room at the University of Maryland about the groundbreaking Middle East peace talks 20 years ago.Carter's talk, in which at one point he seemed to choke back tears, came as part of a 20th-anniversary commemoration of the historic Camp David summit between Israel and Egypt. Those talks paved the way for other Middle East negotiations, such as the one recently undertaken by President Clinton at Wye Plantation."The talks of 1978 showed that it was possible for Arabs and Israelis who had warred with each other, and who had killed each other, that they could find peace," Carter said in the student union ballroom, where more than 500 people gathered.

Middle East conflict has roots in a past that remains 0) disputedI was profoundly touched and moved by Sam Husseini's essay ("Sowing seeds of anger," May 31). I, too, have visited Israel, and using a British map, circa 1938-1939, I scoured the country looking for the villages and towns that no longer exist.Through my many visits to Israel over the past seven years, I have come to know and speak with many of the elder Israeli Arabs who remember "the Catastrophe" of 1948.It is extremely important for the United States to maintain a truly nonpartisan position on the Middle East peace talks or withdraw altogether and allow our European allies to assist the Israelis and Palestinians in making peace.

Israel and the Vatican will end years of diplomatic standoff by establishing official relations by the end of this month, Israeli officials and American religious leaders say.The 14-point agreement is to be signed in Jerusalem Dec. 30 after being initialed in Rome the day before, they said yesterday.Although the Vatican has recognized Israel, its unwillingness to establish full diplomatic ties has been a sore point between Catholics and Jews.The agreement, which follows 18 months of intensive, behind-the-scenes diplomacy, is said to include a pledge by the Catholic Church to join Israel in new efforts to oppose anti-Semitism.

JERUSALEM -- When the Middle East peace talks resume in Washington on Tuesday, Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are expected to discuss mixtures of new and old ideas that have senior officials on both sides speaking optimistically about a possible breakthrough.Perhaps the most talked-about new plan would quickly give the Palestinians authority over the tumultuous Gaza Strip and the quiet West Bank city of Jericho, with Israeli forces pulling back from those areas. More sensitive questions of control over the rest of the West Bank and -- thornier yet -- the future of Jerusalem would be left for later.

Washington. -- After 10 rounds of Middle East peace talks over 20 months, there's an open secret Washington cannot ignore: Despite all the words spoken, the talking must not stop even for a week, or the whole process could unravel."

JERUSALEM -- In an unusual attack on U.S. policy, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel accused the Clinton administration yesterday of yielding to Palestinian pressure with its latest proposals in the Middle East peace talks.Mr. Rabin was reacting unhappily to a U.S. draft paper that the administration hopes can become the basis for agreement on the principles for future Palestinian self-rule in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.The U.S. proposals have also won no friends among Palestinian negotiators, who warned this weekend that the talks, after making virtually no headway over the last 20 months, were in danger of total collapse.

JERUSALEM -- Israeli negotiators headed yesterday night for another round of Middle East peace talks as senior officials here predicted that Arab delegations would also journey to Washington before long despite having delayed their travels to protest Israel's planned expulsion of 12 Palestinians from its occupied territories."

There is a glimmer of light in the endless Middle East peace talks. The sixth round, which suspended for the Jewish High Holy Days after four weeks in Washington, produced some momentum. This was not at the table, but in public comment by the participants outside the room. They are all coming back to Washington Oct. 21.Palestinians have expressed greater confidence in Israel's intentions, based on Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's public comments. The actual Rabin bargaining team and its tactics on Palestinian autonomy have not departed much from the previous regime of Yitzhak Shamir.

UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations Security Council, closing the book on the dispute over Israel's deportation of more than 400 Palestinians six weeks ago, again urged Israel yesterday to take back the deportees and called on the Palestinian delegation to return to the stalled Middle East peace talks.Under a complex agreement worked out in the last few weeks, the Security Council told Israel that it welcomed its decision to readmit 101 of the Palestinians deported to a barren strip of land separating the Israeli and Lebanese frontiers but that it expected Israel to comply fully with its order to take all of them back.

WASHINGTON -- In his first major foreign policy initiative, President Clinton has ordered Secretary of State Warren M. Christopher to the Middle East to try to break the current Arab-Israeli deadlock over 400 Palestinians deported from Israel to Lebanon.The impasse had forced the postponement of next week's ninth round of multilateral Middle East peace talks after the Palestinians rejected a U.S.-brokered compromise that would have allowed 100 of the deportees to return to Israel immediately, with all able to return by year's end.Mr.