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- <text id=91TT1068>
- <title>
- May 20, 1991: World Notes:Middle East
- </title>
- <history>
- TIME--The Weekly Newsmagazine--1991
- May 20, 1991 Five Who Could Be Vice President
- </history>
- <article>
- <source>Time Magazine</source>
- <hdr>
- WORLD, Page 41
- World Notes
- MIDDLE EAST
- Nosing into The Peace Tent
- </hdr><body>
- <p> Weeks of invisible diplomacy and quiet arm twisting by the
- U.S. have produced the first significant step toward an Arab-
- Israeli peace conference. Flying to the region on Saturday for his
- fourth round of talks in two months, Secretary of State James
- Baker said Saudi Arabia and its five allies in the Gulf
- Cooperation Council will send an observer to the conference if
- it is held. They will also participate in regional working
- groups on problems like arms control and water resources.
- </p>
- <p> Saudi Arabia and its neighbors--Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman,
- Qatar and the United Arab Emirates--are the first Arab states
- after Egypt to agree to sit down and talk formally with Israel.
- That alone, says Baker, "will break at least one major taboo."
- A Saudi official in Washington agrees: "The camel's nose is in
- the tent."
- </p>
- <p> But first the tent must go up. Baker moves on this week
- from Damascus to Cairo, Amman and Jerusalem to keep pushing at
- the obstacles that still block the peace conference. If he
- makes no progress, said a senior official, "I think we ought to
- stop flying around and decide what we do next."
- </p>
-
- </body></article>
- </text>
-
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