The World - News from Feb. 12, 1988

Secretary of State George P. Shultz tentatively plans to visit Egypt, Jordan and Israel beginning Feb. 25 to push American proposals for reactivating the Middle East peace process, U.S. officials and diplomatic sources said. Officially, State Department spokesmen said that Shultz will decide on the trip after conferring with Richard W. Murphy, assistant secretary of state for Mideast affairs, who just returned to Washington from consultations in Saudi Arabia, Israel and Syria. However, the sources said that Shultz has already concluded that only his personal, on-the-scene involvement will convince Arab and Israeli leaders of a high-priority U.S. commitment to help resolve the Middle East conflict.