Despite State Department repeated protestations it is not having contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization, except for security purposes of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, a high PLO official has been given a U.S. visa to enter the United States and he is opening a propaganda office here for the terrorist group.
The Department refused to explain the circumstances yesterday to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency but indicated it might tomorrow. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger was in Plains, Ga, yesterday for a meeting with President-elect Jimmy Carter while momentum was building up in important sections of the media for Kissinger to be the U.S. negotiator in the Arab-Israeli conflict for the Carter Administration.
The PLO official given the visa for a period not publicly specified is described as Sabri Elias Jiryis, a Palestinian-born Arab who left Israel in 1970 and entered the U.S. last month with a Sudanese passport. According to a news report published here and in New York, the State Department knew he was coming, that he headed the Israel section of the PLO in Beirut and is a member of the Palestine National Council, the PLO’s top body.
The PLO office for Washington was formally registered with the Justice Department Friday with the authorization of Yasir Arafat, the PLO chief, according to the reports. In his registration, Jiryis said he received $10,000 Oct, 18 from the PLO headquarters in Beirut to organize an “information office” here.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
