P.L.O. list may remove peace talks obstacle

Press, 15 July 1985, Page 6

P.L.O. list may remove peace talks obstacle

NZPA-NYT Amman Jordan The Palestine Liberation Organisation has submitted to Jordan a list of 10 to 15 Palestinians who have its approval to take part in talks with the United States about ending the ArabIsraeli conflict, well-placed Palestinian and other sources say. The list of possible participants in a joint JordanianPalestinian delegation, or “joint group”, as it will be called, would be given by Jordan to the Reagan Administration as soon as the Secretary of State, Mr George Shultz, returned to Washington, they said. The submission of the list could set the stage for a possible meeting later this month between the joint group and Richard Murphy, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, to discuss American recognition of the P.L.O. and moves to revive long-stalled Middle East peace talks. The Reagan Administration has been reluctant to enter talks with a joint group if such negotiations would not lead eventually to broader peace talks including Israel. Israel has repeatedly refused to negotiate under any conditions with known

or declared members of the P.L.O. The list would also remove what has been a serious barrier to efforts to revive the peace process: the P.LO’s reluctance to nominate Palestinians who are not its leaders or activists as members of the joint delegation. The sources said that Jordan and the P.L.O. hoped the Palestinians’ proposal would be acceptable to the Reagan Administration, because none are members of the organisation’s leadership or associated with its military groups. Almost all are said to be members of the Palestine National Council, which serves as a sort of Palestinian parliament.

Jordan and the P.L.O. consider the Palestine National Council to be part of the organisation, but the United States does not.

Washington has refused to recognise or even talk to the P.L.O. unless it explicitly endorses United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338, which recognise Israel’s right to exist.

Mr Yasser Arafat, chairman of the P.L.0., had encountered much resistance, the sources said, in winning the support of the organisation’s leadership for nominating Palestine National

Council members to a joint delegation. The Reagan Administration has refused to meet declared P.L.O. members barring an explicit endorsement by the organisation of resolutions 242 and 338.

King Hussein of Jordan, during his visit to Washington in April, said that the P.L.O. and Jordan had agreed to negotiate peace with Israel at an international conference on the basis of resolutions 242 and 338, and that Mr Arafat was prepared to endorse those resolutions explicitly.

Mr Arafat has not done so thus far, but he has not publicly disagreed with the King’s assertions. Neither Jordanian nor P.L.O. sources would identify the people whose names were on the list, citing concerns for the candidates’ safety. Several live on the Israeli-occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, the officials said.

Jordan has stepped up security precautions because of terrorist attacks in Jordan. Amman says that the attacks have been sponsored by Syria, which opposes the Jordanian-P.L.O. peace bid. Sources with first-hand knowledge of the discussions say that Mr Arafat arrived in Amman on Thursday and

began talks at a working lunch with King Hussein and senior Jordanians. Jordan had been very concerned, sources said, about the P.L.O.’s delay in providing its list of possible delegates. Last week in Tunis, Palestinian sources said the P.L.O.’s executive committee and the central committee of Fatah, the largest guerrilla group, of which Mr Arafat is the head, finally approved the formation of a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation for talks with the Americans.

At the lunch, Mr Arafat assured King Hussein that he had brought the list, sources said. There was a second meeting that night between senior P.L.O. leaders and the Prime Minister, Mr Zaid Rifai, and other Jordanian officials. After the lunch and before the second meeting, King Hussein and his wife, Queen Noor, opened a culture festival at Jerash. Asked there about the outcome of his discussions with Mr Arafat, the King smiled broadly and replied, “All is well.”

Mr Arafat provided through his spokesman a similarly optimistic assessment at the week-end, calling the session “a very good meeting”.