Soviet Delegate Asks Israel to Join Peace Talks

JERUSALEM — The leader of the first official Soviet delegation to visit Israel in two decades today called on the Jewish state to join an international Middle East peace conference.

However, delegation leader Yevgeny Antipov said over Israel army radio that the Soviet Union would not renew diplomatic ties with Israel because “the normalization of the situation in the Middle East should come first and it can be achieved through an international conference.”

Also today, about 25 protesters rushed the Soviet delegation at the Foreign Ministry, where the Soviets met with Israeli officials. The protesters, shouting anti-Soviet slogans and demanding freer Jewish emigration, were pushed back onto the sidewalk by police.