East Peace Talks

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.

MOSCOW -- The Russians have become bit players even in their own production.Officially, they are co-sponsors of the two-day Middle East peace talks taking place here, as well as hosts, but in practice they have been content to stay away, busying themselves with other problems.Where once the Kremlin was a power to be reckoned with in the Middle East, today it barely seems to have the time to pay the region even polite attention.A few other issues seem closer at hand just now:* Shipments of natural gas to Poland and oil to Lithuania had to be cut off because of the economy's tailspin.

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.

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."

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.

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.

The Middle East peace conference in Madrid showed what is possible when a fight ends with the victor unable to accept he has won, the vanquished unwilling to admit he has lost and the referee insistent on keeping the outcome to himself.Of course, it helps if the winners are the neurotically insecure Israelis, the losers are vainglorious Arabs and the referee is the ever wily U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III.The unsentimental secretary of state has crafted a negotiating process based mainly on the cold calculation that the loss of two wars -- one cold and one hot -- had left the Arabs desperately weakened and therefore ready to negotiate an end to their decades-old bitter dispute with the Israelis.

WASHINGTON -- The Soviet Union moved closer to re-establishing diplomatic ties with Israel yesterday after a 23-year break as each side backed off entrenched approaches to the Middle East peace process.Emerging from an hourlong meeting here with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze said that the process for restoring the ties broken after the Six Day War in 1967 was "developing in a normal fashion.""We are not setting preconditions," he said.