Young ordered not to treat with P.L.O.

Press, 18 August 1979, Page 8

Young ordered not to treat with P.L.O.

NZPA-Reuter

Washington

The United States State Department has ordered the outgoing United Nations Ambassador (Mr Andrew Young) not to have further dealings with the Palestine Liberation Organisation in his remaining weeks in office.

Hours after Mr Young indicated he might meet a P.L.O. observer, Mr Zehdi Terzi, in his capacity as president of the Security Council this month, the department said United States policy banning substantive dealings with the P.L.O. was unchanged.

Mr Young, who resigned in a row over an unauthorised meeting with Mr Terzi, will remain in his post until a successor is named.

A State Department spokesman said the outspoken Mr Young, whose resignation rocked the White House and posed serious political problems for President Carter, had seen the restatement of the policy guidelines and approved of them. The move came amid a continuing debate over Mr Young’s resignation, which caused dismay among fellow blacks and troubled relations between blacks and Jews.

Mr Young is trying to prevent divisions between the two communities. Mr Young has telepnoned seve-al mayors to ask them to try to prevent a schism over the circumstances of his resignation, which came after protests by Israel and

Jew’sh leaders against his meeting with Mr Terzi.

conscionable to refuse to see someone as president of the Security Council in the U.N.”

named manager of the Carter re-election campaign, were among those at the session.

He told a news conference in New Yoik that he did not think there would be a confh'ct between blacks and Jews.

The State Department said Mr Young was planning to carry out his duties as Security Council president through August.

Mr Young helped rally black voters behind Mr Carter in his narrow 1976 election victory, and their support also is crucial to the President’s re-election chances next year. In another move reflecting the ties between the White House and Mr Young, Mr Carter telephoned Mr Young to thank him for his work. Mr Young has blamed Israel's decision to make a public issue of his meeting with Mr Terzi for the row that brought about his resignation.

• 1 think there will be something of a confrontation as friends,” but the two sides would work together despite their differences, he saiu. “The issue is not between Jews and blacks — it’s the Middle East.” The National Urban League leader, Mr Vernon Jordan, and Mrs Coretta King, widow of the slain black leader, Martin Luther King, said a meeting of 70 black leaders would be held next week to set the stage for talks with Jewish counterparts.

It noted that he was expected to meet all representatives who had business with the council, which is to resume its debate on Palestinian rights on August 23 and added:

“When Ambassador Young presides over the debate in the council, he will in appropriate instances afford the P.L.O. an opportunity to speak in accordance with established practice. “We would not anticipate the need for him as Security Council president to have other dealings with the P.L.O. In his capacity as United States representative, he will pursue United States policy regarding contacts with the P.L.0.”

The Ambassador had first reported to the State Department that his meeting with Mr Terzi had been a chance encounter, and only social niceties had been exchanged. But later, after an Israeli protest, he changed his story to say that he had discussed the Security Council debate on Palestine.

The State Department statement was issued in response to queries about comments by Mr Young at his press conference. As Security Council president this month, he said: “Anybody who wants to come there and consult can call the secretariat and get an appointment, and I will be there.”

Mr Young returned to Washington on Thursday for a Carter re-election planning session, underlining his friendship and commitment to the President. The White House chief-of-staff, Mr Hamilton Jordan, and Mr Tim Kraft, newly

Mr Young also said he did not know whether his conversation with Mr Terzi had been “bugged,” but he added that he always assumed that his discussions were monitored electronically.

Mr Young, asked if he would receive Mr Terzi, responded: ' “It would be un-