Arafat Dodges Issue of Coexistence Between Palestinian State and Israel

Yasir Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, refused flatly in a television interview today, to say whether a Palestinian state would agree to coexist with Israel.

Although pressed repeatedly by interviewer Barbara Wallers on ABC-TV’s “Issues and Answers,” Arafat would not answer the question directly. Instead, he said the decision would have to be mode by the “democratic establishment” of a Palestinian state once that state was created. The interview was taped yesterday in Havana where Arafat was attending the meeting of the nonaligned nations.

When asked whether the PLO would abandon its call for the elimination of Israel, Arafat replied that this was a foolish question since Israel has a “huge force” with 15-20 atomic weapons backed by the United States. He denied the Palestine Charter calls for the elimination of Israel.

The PLO leader also said he did not want changes in United Nations Security Council Resolution 242 but a new resolution which provided for Palestinian self-determination and a Palestinian state. He said that President Carter was “not accurate” when he said recently that no Arab leader had told the President privately that they support a Palestinian state. Arafat said all Arab leaders support such a state.

ACCUSES SADAT OF BETRAYAL

Arafat again accused Egyptian President Anwar Sadat of “betrayal” of the Arab people. He said evidence of this was that when Sadat’s yacht sailed into Haifa last week it was guarded by Israeli planes, the same planes that bomb “my people” and the Lebanese people in Lebanon. The PLO leader maintained that he was a “moderate.” He said that “to be a moderate in the Middle East is very difficult,” explaining that “I try to deal with all the camps around me.”

Arafat denied he was anti-Semitic. “We are anti-Zionist. We respect the Jews and the Jewish religion.” He characterized Zionism as expansionist. Walters, who was irked throughout the interview by Arafat’s refusal to directly state whether the Palestinians could exist with Israel, noted that the PLO seemed to be getting more support in the U.S. but at the same time Americans did not want to see Israel destroyed. Arafat again refused to give a direct answer implying only that Israel was strong enough to prevent its destruction.

On the issue of Andrew Young’s resignation as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Arafat at first said he agreed with a statement by a PLO official that the resignation has increased anti-Semitism in the U.S. He said Young was fired for doing his job by meeting with the PLO observer at the UN. But then Arafat seemed to change his position, saying the resignation has increased “anti-aggression,” opposition to Israel’s attacks against south Lebanon.

The PLO leader said that he still wants an Arab oil boycott of the U.S. because Israel is using the most “up-to-date” American weapons in its attack on the Palestinians. He said the PLO leadership has not yet decided whether he should go to New York this fall for the UN General. Assembly session.