P.L.O. threat on summit eve

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33675, 26 October 1974, Page 17

P.L.O. threat on summit eve

fflZ. Press Assn—Copyright? RABAT, October 25. Arab Ministers worked into the early hours of today to avert an open rift between Jordan and the Palestinian commandos on the eve of the Arab summit conference in Rabat. A flurry of activity — private meetings and confidential telephone calls — followed a threat by the Palestine Liberation Organisation to withdraw from the Foreign Ministers’ preparatory talks. The Palestinians made the threat during a long session last night, because, they said, they were not obtaining sufficient support from the other Arab States for their position on the future of Palestinian lands when they were liberated. The delegates agreed to adjourn for dinner and to meet again but the late-night session was later cancelled to allow feelings to cool down, conference sources say. The delegates agreed to meet again this morning, the last day before the Arab leaders open their seventh summit conference. At issue, in particular, is the future of the occupied West Bank of the Jordan, captured by Israel in the six-day war of June, 1967. The delegation from the P.L.0., yesterday presented a working paper, calling for the commandos to establish

“an independent national authority” — a mini-State — on any part of Palestinian territory relinquished by Israel in the course of a settlement. King Hussein of Jordan rejects this, on the ground that he has the best chance of negotiating with Israel for its return. The only Head of State in the Arab League of 20 nations not due at the conference in the next 24 hours is Colonel Gaddafi of Libya, who established himself as an opponent of the host, King Hassan, when he supported an attempted coup d’etat against the Moroccan monarch in 1971. It was announced from Tripoli last night that the Libyan delegation to the summit would be headed by the Ambassador to France (Mr. Kadri Al-Atrash). Japanese aid Japan is considering sending surplus textile stocks to developing countries as economic aid to help the Japanese textile industry out of its present slump, caused mainly by an accumulation of stocks. A decision is expected soon on a plan to supply clothing to Bangladesh, where there is a severe shortage, and Japan is also sounding other countries, including Egypt, Indonesia, Burma, and South Vietnam, on the possibility of supplying them with Japanese textiles under yen loans already made to them as economic aid, or newly-made for this purpose. — Tokyo, Oct. 25.