Arafat’s Visit to Spain Draws Protest from Jewish Organizations

Jewish organizations protested sharply over the weekend to the Spanish government for receiving Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat. Leaders of the Conference of President of Major American Jewish Organizations met here with Kose Liodo, the Spanish Ambassador to the U.S. to tell him that American Jews were “deeply disturbed” by the honors the Spanish regime had accorded Arafat during his visit. In New York, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith deplored the visit as a setback to the Middle East peace.

Arafat’s visit was also denounced by Mauricio Toledano, leader of Madrid’s 3000 Jews, who called upon the government to establish diplomatic relations with Israel. Spain is the only Western nation which does not have diplomatic ties with Israel, a situation Toledano described as absurd.

OFFICIALLY INVITED BY GOVERNMENT

Arafat, who left Spain yesterday after a 48 hour visit, had been officially invited by the government. While there he met with Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez. It was the first time that a West European leader acting as the head of state had received Arafat. Last July, the terrorist leader met with Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, who is also vice president of the Socialist International. Kreisky claimed that his talks with Arafat were in the context of his role in the International.

The PLO chief also met with Foreign Minister Marcelino Oreja, Spain’s governing Union of the Democratic Center, Socialists, Communists, the far-left workers Party, and with Bishop Hilarion Capucci, the former head of the Greek-Melkites in Jerusalem who served three years in an Israeli prison on charges of gunrunning for the Palestinians. He arrived in Madrid from Rome Where he now lives.

However, Manuel Fraga Iribarne, leader of the right-wing Democratic Coalition, refused to meet with Arafat. He said that while he supports the “legitimate rights” of the Palestinians. he did not want to contribute “to the flourishing terrorism and revolutionary war in Spain and the confusion that this visit would create.” Fraga was referring to Spain’s problems with the Basque nationalist organization ETA.

In the meeting here with Liado, Theodore Mann, chairman of the Presidents Conference, and Yehuda Hellman, executive director of the Conference, painted out that while the Spanish government accorded officials honors to Arafat it still refuses to grant diplomatic recognition to Israel. They also told the envoy that receiving Arafat had “seriously injured” Spain’s reputation among American Jews. Liado, who left for consultations in Madrid following his meeting with Mann and Hellman last Thursday evening, promised to transmit their protest “to the highest levels of the Spanish government.

QUESTIONS SPAIN’S ORIENTATION

Abraham Foxman, ADL’s associate national

Foxman said the two developments coming in such close proximity “makes us wonder whether Spain is signaling a new political alliance with elements that are unfriendly to the free world.”

Prior to leaving Modrid, Arafat praised the Spanish government’s “progressive” stand on the Mideast. However, there was no joint statement. Rather, the Spanish Foreign Ministry issued a press statement noting that Spain will “continue maintaining and developing special ties of friendship and cooperation that unite Spain with the Arab world, to the benefit of both peoples, and the support of the latter’s just causes.”

The statement added that peace in the Mideast “cannot be reached without a just, overall and lasting solution, based on the principles and resolutions of the United Nations and the Palestinian people’s exercise of its inalienable national rights.”