Mideast Nations on 'Collision Course,' Jordanian Ambassador Tells Seminar

Jordan's ambassador to the United Nations said yesterday that peace efforts in the Middle East are "about to reach a standstill" because of Israeli intransigence and American partisanship of Israel.

Abdule Hamid Sharaf said that since the Yom Kippur War, the Arabs have been increasingly ready to accept a settlement based on what he called "limited objectives"--Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territories and restoration of rights for Palestinians.

The ambassador spoke at a seminar jointly sponsored by the Institute of Politics and the Center for International Affairs.

Sharaf said that the United States has furthered peace prospects since the 1973 war by abandoning its position of "total Israeli partisanship" and assuming a mediating role, Sharaf said.

But, Sharaf said, the Israeli establishment has been unable "to come to terms with the Palestinian issue and to depart from the policy of defining security as acquisition of territory."

Sharaf said that Israel's intransigence and its pressure on the United States to return to its pre-1973 "partisan" position has set the Arab countries and Israel on a "collision course."

Constraints

"At this stage, the American political leadership does not seem able to transcend the political constraints" imposed by Israel's supporters, Sharaf said.

The ambassador likened the situation in the Middle East today to the situation that prevailed shortly before the Yom Kippur War.

"If the American mediatory efforts continue to dwindle and the United States continues to become the captive of the Israeli paralysis again, the area will move towards another collision and perhaps successive conditions," Sharaf said.