World : Shevardnadze Meets Arens, Arafat

CAIRO — Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze straddled the bitter divide between Israel and the PLO in intense but separate talks with their leaders today.

Shevardnadze put to Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens’ Moscow’s proposal for an international conference on Middle East peace against Israel’s repeated rejection and insistence on direct talks with the Arabs. The Soviet foreign minister and Arens differed on peace policies during their three hours of talks. Six hours later, after Arens had left Egypt, the Soviet minister went into his first talks in 10 months with Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat at the Soviet Embassy.