Shultz talks peace, missiles with Saudis

Secretary of State George Shultz brought his flagging Middle East peace mission to Saudi Arabia yesterday to seek new support from King Fahd. United States officials said Mr. Shultz was also likely to raise US concern over Saudi Arabia's purchase of medium-range missiles from China.

State Department spokesman Charles Redman declined comment on a Reuters report that the Saudi government would allow American inspection of the missiles if the US guaranteed the Israelis would not make a preemptive strike against them.

Shultz, who flew in from Jordan and talks with King Hussein, has traveled the region for the last four days to rally support for a US peace plan.

A senior Palestine Liberation Organization official said yesterday that Shultz's mission was doomed.

``No Arab state can accept the Shultz plan nor can anyone in the Arab region sidestep the PLO,'' Salim al-Zaanoun told Reuters in Abu Dhabi.

Shultz was due to return yesterday to Amman on the last stop of his tour.

Meanwhile, at Karnei Shomron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, as thousands of settlers cried ``revenge, revenge,'' Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir vowed that the killing of a Jewish girl would only strengthen Israel's resolve to keep the West Bank.

A 15-year-old Israeli girl was stoned to death on Wednesday while on a hike. She was the first civilian to die in the uprising. One newspaper said the hike was a demonstration and a travel agent said the child had been sacrificed for ``political beliefs.''

In Wednesday's clash, 16 teenagers from the ultra-nationalist settlement of Elon Moreh were escorted by two armed adults, who killed two Palestinian attackers and wounded three before running out of ammunition.