Negotiating process needed for Mideast peace.

• Position: United Nations Secretary-General's report to General Assembly and Security Council

Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, in reviewing recent developments in the Middle East, has indicated "little cause for hope" that the problems of the region are nearer to solution.

In his report to the Assembly and Security Council on that subject (document A/38/458--S/16015), he cited preoccupation with the events in Lebanon as a major basis for that assertion. Those events, he said, tended to overshadow consideration of major aspects of the Middle East problems.

"There can be little doubt that developments in this year of frustration will prove to have made even more difficult the comprehensive settlement which alone can eventually bring coexistance and peace to this vital part of the world", he stated.

The Secretary-General's report, entitled "Developments in the Middle East in all their aspects", covered military developments and United Nations peace-keeping activities; the Palestine refugee problem; the question of Palestine; and the search for a peaceful settlement. It was examined during debates in the Assembly plenary on items on the question of Palestine and the situation in the Middle East.

In particular, the Secretary-General cited the central problem of the legitimate rights and future of the Palestinian people; the complications caused by the growth of Israeli settlements on the West Bank and by the failure once again to get down to meaningful negotiations; and the basic problems of withdrawal of Israeli forces from occupied territories, recognition of the long-term security of all States in the region and the future of Jerusalem.

"The delay in getting to the roots of the Middle East problem cannot, in the long run, serve the cause of peace", he declared. "The process of procrastination" could only increase bitterness and tension and result in a far more fundamental and destructive crisis in the area.

Since 1948, he stated, the parties had invariably been "out of phase with each other" in relation to the question of discussing a peaceful solution, a problem exacerbated by lack of mutual recognition and communication. Only an agreed settlement, taking due account of the basic aspirations and vital interests of each, would ensure the safety and survival of all parties concerned. Such a settlement must be based on principles outlined in Security Council resolution 242 (1967).

Mr. Perez de Cuellar said the major Powers, involved in various ways in the Middle East conflict, held opposing views, which had often made it...