Israeli Cabinet OKs peace talks

JERUSALEM Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's Cabinet gave resounding approval on Sunday to his conditional agreement to attend a Middle East peace conference under American and Soviet auspices. Sixteen Cabinet ministers backed the agreement that the prime minister reached on Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State James A. Baker III, but three ministers led by Housing Minister Ariel Sharon voted against Shamir, as they said they would do before the meeting. Israeli government radio reported that the four-hour session was marked by personal argument between the prime minister and Sharon, who are both members of the Likud Party. The hardline housing minister accused his leader of h"fixed" the outcome with Baker before they met. Shamir responded by charging his rival with being motivated by lust for power. Interviewed after the session, Sharon denounced the government for placing trust in an apparent change of heart by President Hafez Assad of Syria, who in his meeting with Baker reversed Syria's stand against negotiations with Israel. He called Assad a "tyrant like Saddam Hussein" and termed his assent to the conference "a big lie." Science Minister Yuval Neeman and Minister Without Portfolio Rehavam Zeevi, who represent small parties that reject any compromise with the Arabs over the occupied territories, also voted against the prime minister. In giving his approval to Baker, Shamir said that Israel would attend only if the Palestinian representatives at the conference were not members of the Palestine Liberation Organization or residents of East Jerusalem, which Israel has annexed.