Middle East Masters of Double-Talk

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir rounded up the usual expressions of ambiguity last week to deny reports that he had been talking to the Palestine Liberation Organization. Asserting for the umpteenth time that he never had and never would, Shamir did admit that he has been holding "get-acquainted" talks with a Palestinian from the West Bank identified with the P.L.O. But, he insisted, "there's absolutely no negotiation with the P.L.O., direct or indirect."

As politicians -- especially Middle Eastern politicians -- are wont to do, Shamir was fudging the facts. Jamil Tarifi, a West Bank lawyer associated with the P.L.O., confirmed the talks and implied that he would report on the meeting to P.L.O. chairman Yasser Arafat. By meeting with Tarifi, insisted Labor Party official Yossi Beilin, Shamir made the P.L.O. leader implicitly part of the bargaining process. Said Beilin: "That there is negotiation with the P.L.O. is quite clear."

In fact, such a dialogue is well under way as both Israel and the P.L.O. dicker through the U.S. on terms for elections in the occupied territories. Last week the P.L.O. offered a new list of conditions for its participation. The various parties interpreted the list to serve their own political ends. Some, including members of Israel's Labor Party, considered Arafat's terms relatively moderate because he reportedly dropped a demand for the total - withdrawal of Israeli troops before elections take place. Others read the terms, such as the long-standing demand for an independent Palestinian state, as confirmation of Arafat's insufficient flexibility. Arafat, true to his own ambiguous style, conveniently chose to highlight his more rigid points to the Arab world.

That kind of double-talk is, unfortunately, the common coin of the Middle East dialogue. As principal exponents of the opposing sides, Shamir and Arafat have more than occasionally been guilty of talking out of both sides of their mouth. Each has proved a master at sounding comparatively moderate to international listeners, but appealing to ancient strains of chauvinism when addressing their constituents. A recent sampler: