Concern Widening over New and Developing U.S.-PLO Relationship

Concern is widening and deepening here over the new and developing relationship between the United States and the Palestine Liberation Organization leadership in Lebanon and the path in the Middle East political situation to which it may be leading.

Only a week ago the State Department was saying that the U.S. was having no direct contact with the PLO. Then, as the sea evacuation of 300 Americans and other foreign nationals was underway, disclosure came that direct contact had been taking place for "some time." Shortly afterward "some time" was reported as meaning they had begun in late June. On Friday the Department revealed, the PLO has been supplying armed escorts for American personnel in Beirut.

At present, three diplomats and 12 marines are understood to have remained in the American Embassy in a war-torn area of west Beirut which is largely under PLO control. However, the Moslem Lebanese who are allied with the PLO, are in the immediate vicinity of the Embassy itself. The marines guard the Embassy building.

BITTER, HEATED BRIEFINGS

Questions raised by reporters at increasingly bitter and heated briefings with State Department spokesmen over what some charged was piecemeal disclosure of information include whether the remaining Americans are "hostages" of the PLO, what the PLO has received in return for its "cooperation" and what commitment the U.S. may have made to the PLO regarding future developments. His the PLO doing this out of the goodness of its heart?" a reporter asked. The Department promised to provide an answer to the question.

On the public record, the State Department insists no change has taken place in its policy toward the PLO. Until last week’s disclosure this has been assumed to be that the U.S. will not have any dealings with the PLO until it recognizes Israel as a sovereign state and abides by United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. Israel has pitched a low-key concern about the U.S.-PLO contacts out of consideration of Washington’s needs to evacuate Americans from a situation where the U.S. government no longer could protect them.

Department spokesman Robert Funseth, responding to a question from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, denied categorically that any writing had passed between the U.S. and the PLO in any form between any officials. When the JTA asked whether the U.S. "still considered the PLO a terrorist organization," Funseth replied that he did not know if that is the characterization. The spokesman emphasized that the contacts with the PLO relate to "security matters and that remains the case."

Funseth said that the U.S. has "demanded" from the PLO that the murderers of American Ambassador Francis Malloy. Embassy officer Robert Waring and their Lebanese driver June 15 be brought to justice. He said the U.S. has been "working through intermediaries and directly with the PLO as well as Lebanese parties to find out what we can about the circumstances of their deaths and the identity of the murderers." Funseth, asked by a reporter. "If the danger is not with the PLO why is there a need for PLO escorts," replied that this was a determination for the security officer at the Embassy.