U.S.-Soviet Overture to Hussein Alarms Israelis : Mideast: ‘A political action was taken . . . without consulting us,’ Prime Minister Shamir says.

Israel’s government reacted with alarm Wednesday to a joint U.S.-Soviet statement that it viewed as giving Iraqi President Saddam Hussein an escape from ultimate destruction and that appeared to commit Washington to help resolve the Palestinian conflict at war’s end.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir complained that he was not informed in advance of the joint U.S.-Soviet communique issued Tuesday in Washington after Secretary of State James A. Baker III and the new Soviet foreign minister, Alexander A. Bessmertnykh, held talks.

“I would say that we find fault in this, in that a political action was taken here that touches us, our fate, our future, without consulting us, without telling us first that they are going to do it,” Shamir said.

Aides to Shamir noted that Israel and the United States were supposed to be in close consultation.

“Suddenly, we are left in the dark,” one said.

The communique said there could be a cease-fire in the Gulf War if Hussein makes an “unequivocal commitment” to withdraw from Kuwait and it went on to pledge joint U.S.-Soviet efforts “to promote Arab-Israeli peace” after the war.

The first was widely interpreted as a softening of previous policy, which set complete withdrawal as the condition for peace. The second was viewed as an approach toward linking the Kuwait issue to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Both were denied by the Bush Administration on Wednesday.

Members of Shamir’s rightist Likud government warned that Hussein must be driven from power in order to assure stability in the Middle East.

“If he is permitted to withdraw from Kuwait, and this alone, everything would start all over again,” predicted Eliahu Ben-Elissar, a member of the Likud Party and head of the Parliament’s defense and foreign affairs committee.

“For us, Kuwait has never been the main issue. Saddam has been,” added a spokesman for Shamir.

Ben-Elissar also objected to the mention of Palestinians in the joint statement. He considered the reference as foreshadowing pressure on Israel to concede land and independence to 1.7 million Palestinians living under Israeli control. He argued that putting out a statement on the Palestinians now made a link between the withdrawal from Kuwait and Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

“Israel is not going to pay for Iraqi aggression on Kuwait,” he said. “More than ever, everyone has to understand that Israel needs a wider margin of security than other countries.”

Later in the day, Shamir and his foreign minister, David Levy, expressed confidence that the Bush Administration is not linking the Kuwait issue with the Palestinian conflict.

But there was evident irritation that Israel--which had given in to U.S. demands that it not retaliate for seven Iraqi missile attacks--suddenly was forced to take up the Palestinian question. In recent days Israelis had openly predicted that the issue, if it is to be settled at all, would be settled on Israel’s terms after the Gulf War ends.

As a first step, Israel is pressing the world to write off the Palestine Liberation Organization because of its support for Iraq.

“If anyone comes to us to get self-determination for Palestinians and asks us to talk to the PLO, we’re going to send them back to Saddam Hussein,” Ben-Elissar said.

Foreign Ministry officials have said that after the war, Israel will renew its offer of limited self-rule for Palestinians, with Israel maintaining control over the land from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.

Ben-Elissar said the idea of holding Palestinian elections in the occupied lands, a proposal that in any case has gone nowhere, is probably dead.

Controversy surrounded Tuesday’s arrest of Palestinian activist Sari Nusseibeh, who was accused of telling the Iraqis where missiles they aimed at Israel had landed. Nusseibeh has been jailed without trial for six months.

No details of the charges could be provided, nor could Nusseibeh be put on trial for “technical reasons,” Ben-Elissar said, using the euphemism for protecting sources of information.

Israeli peace activists wondered aloud why Nusseibeh, who is identified with the PLO, could not be tried in a closed courtroom.

“We’re suspicious,” said peace campaigner Galia Golan. “If he is a spy, the punishment is too light.”

Golan said that Nusseibeh was preparing a statement committing Palestinians to a two-state solution to their conflict with Israel. Nusseibeh has publicly favored setting up an independent state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The statement was also meant to douse criticism from Israeli peace activists that Palestinian support for Hussein made any future compromise impossible.

In addition, Israeli soldiers arrested Gaza journalist Taher Shitreh on suspicion of helping an anti-Israeli Muslim group print and distribute leaflets. Like Nusseibeh, Shitreh had long been the subject of complaints from hard-line Israelis for his work in reporting suppression of the Palestinian uprising in the Gaza Strip. He worked for several news organizations and provided timely coverage of demonstrations and violence when Israeli troops would close off the strip to foreign journalists.