ABSTRACT
The rejection of the idea of convening an international conference did not deter the George Bush administration from proceeding with the peace process, especially in view of a number of promising regional events. These included King Hussein's decision to surrender Jordan's claim to the West Bank, the Palestine Liberation Organizations (PLO) acceptance of Israel and its denouncement of terrorism, and the opening of a US-PLO dialogue. Thus in 1989 the United States introduced still another peace plan—the James Baker initiative, which called for a dialogue between Israel and West Bank Palestinians. Shortly after the Paris conference, Yitzhak Shamir agreed to accept formal UN participation in the peace process in order to start direct negotiations with the Arabs, as long as the organization would not be involved in the content of negotiations. In an attempt to end the impasse, on September 15, 1989, President Hosni Mubarak presented his own ten-point peace plan.
