Baker Peace Effort Shifts to N. Africa : Middle East: He asks Morocco’s King Hassan to nudge the PLO toward a compromise. But the monarch offers no immediate commitment.

RABAT, Morocco —  Secretary of State James A. Baker III asked Morocco’s King Hassan II on Saturday to nudge the Palestine Liberation Organization toward a compromise on peace talks with Israel, but the king--a longtime U.S. ally--offered no immediate commitment to help, U.S. officials said.

Baker met with Hassan on the first leg of a three-day tour of North Africa aimed at enlisting more Arab governments in his Middle East diplomacy. Officials said he had counted on the king to take the lead in promoting the Bush Administration’s proposal for an Arab-Israeli peace conference.

The secretary of state particularly hoped that Hassan--who met last week with PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat--would press the guerrilla leadership not to block the formation of a moderate Palestinian delegation to negotiate with Israel, one official said.

Israel has demanded that the Palestinian delegation at the talks exclude Arab residents of East Jerusalem because the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir contends their attendance might weaken its position that Israel’s sovereignty over the city cannot be a subject of negotiation.

Arafat has said he favors the U.S. plan for a peace conference, but he has flatly rejected Israel’s insistence that no Jerusalem Arabs be present.

“We suggested to the king that it would be useful if he and his government could use their influence on anybody to move the process forward and to counsel the Palestinians not to block this process--not to pass up an opportunity which may not come soon again,” said a senior U.S. official who attended Baker’s two-hour meeting with Hassan at the king’s ornate Skhirat Palace on the Atlantic coast near Rabat.

Asked whether Hassan agreed to help, the official replied: “There was no explicit understanding, but the king said he wanted talk to some of the other (North African) states and he wanted to be in touch with other Arab countries.

“The king plays an influential role,” the official explained. “For decades, he’s been an influential player on Middle East issues.”

Indeed, Hassan, 62, who has ruled Morocco since 1961, has played a key behind-the-scenes role in Mideast peace contacts for decades. In 1976, he met with Israeli opposition leader Shimon Peres, who was then the defense minister, making him the first Arab leader to meet publicly with a leading Israeli politician. And in 1982, Hassan was the host of the Fez conference at which the Arab countries made an abortive offer to negotiate with Israel for a Palestinian state.

Baker did not explicitly ask Hassan to intercede with the PLO, the senior official said. The secretary of state has made a concerted effort during his five months of Middle East bargaining to devalue the PLO and to avoid any action that might legitimize Arafat as a negotiating partner.

“To my knowledge, Mr. Baker never used the word PLO in the entire meeting,” the official said pointedly.

Nevertheless, the senior official acknowledged, “certainly, everybody knows the PLO has a certain position in the Middle East. So we’re not trying to be naive.”

Baker was scheduled to fly today to Tunis, where Arafat maintains his political headquarters. Asked about reports and rumors that Baker might meet with PLO officials in the Tunisian capital, however, the senior official responded curtly: “That’s nonsense.”

Baker also urged the king to bring Morocco to the proposed peace conference as an observer and to join directly in later negotiations with Israel on regional issues.

Hassan “reacted positively to the suggestion,” the official said, but he added that the king wants to discuss the idea with other Arab countries before giving a definitive response.

The Administration has proposed a peace conference that would begin in October with a single session including Israel, its Arab neighbors and Palestinian representatives.

After that, officials said, Israel would negotiate separately with each of its neighbors, and a series of “multilateral” talks would be held on issues such as trade, water and environmental questions. Morocco would be invited to participate in these peripheral talks, the official said.

After visiting Tunisia today, Baker is scheduled to visit Algeria on Monday and to return to Washington on Monday night, ending a monthlong diplomatic mission.