The National Association of Arab Americans (NAAA) has called on the Carter Administration to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization as the sole voice of the Palestinian people and to allow the PLO full freedom to open and maintain offices in the United States.
The NAAA, which held a convention in Pittsburgh, Pa. over the weekend, also adopted a resolution demanding that the U.S. end the supply of arms to Israel while urging the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. Najeeb A. Halaby, a former administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration and former head of Pan Am, who is the new president of the NAAA, had urged the delegates to support the Carter Administration’s package sale of planes to Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt as “the best of a bad bargain for all sides.” But the delegates rejected this for a harder line.
The group, which claims a membership of 20,000 Arab Americans, also demanded a renewal of talks for a “just and lasting peace.”
Sen. James Abourezk (D.SD) said the Jewish American lobby in the United States has had a well-organized and highly-financed effort for the past 30 years. He said he supports the NAAA as long as it maintains an American posture and does not become a tool of the Arab nations. Halaby said he saw the NAAA as an American moderator in helping solve the Mideast crisis. “First, I believe that the best thing we can all do is to try to isolate the zealots on both sides who have made such a mess for themselves and for us in that part of the world,” he said.
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