
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, June 30, 1990                   TAG: 9006300154
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: JERUSALEM                                LENGTH: Short

SHAMIR ACCEPTS PARTS OF PEACE TALKS PLAN

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir said Friday he hoped his latest letter to President Bush on the peace process would "open a new chapter" for the Middle East, an aide to Shamir said.

The letter is viewed in Israel as the right-wing government's first formal acceptance of certain proposals by Secretary of State James Baker aimed at holding Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Cairo.

Sources in the Bush administration said officials are taking a close look at Shamir's letter and may set up a meeting between Baker and Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy.

At issue is the future of the 1.7 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East War.

Shamir sent the letter in response to one from President Bush inquiring about the prime minister's intentions now that he has formed a new government.

- Associated Press

by CNB