Premier Menachem Begin said today he would “advise” President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, when they meet next month, to “abandon” the idea of including the Palestine Liberation Organization in the autonomy talks. Otherwise, Begin implied, the resumption of the long-stalled talks would be jeopardized. The Premier confirmed that in the past, Israel had learned of a PLO plan to assassinate Sadat and had informed “the proper authorities” in good time. He did not elaborate on this.
Begin made his statements to a crowd of reporters covering the formal presentation of the new Cabinet to President Yitzhak Navon. Answering reporters’ questions, Begin said that Sadat (who is now in Washington) had “suggested to President Reagan that the U.S. should start a dialogue with (the PLO) … I understand that President Reagan did not answer in the positive and that Secretary of State (Alexander) Haig answered in the negative.”
The American commitment to Israel was “absolutely clear,” Begin said, “never to recognize the PLO unless and until” the organizations first recognizes Israel and accepts United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338. Begin cited the PLO foreign minister Farouk Khaddoum who only recently had publicly reiterated the PLO’s firm determination never under any circumstances to recognize Israel. “To us it’s not news; to others it should be a memento …,” Begin said.
WILL NEVER DEAL WITH THE PLO
He continued: “Of course I cannot agree on this issue with my friend Anwar … he calls me his friend Menachem, and I reciprocate. We are indeed friends, we trust each other and we discuss matters with complete candor … If I meet him I’ll tell him in Alexandria that I completely disagree to bringing in that murderers organization which, by the by, tries from time to time to assassinate President Sadat.”
Once Israel had received information of such a plot “from a very serious source” and had “not left it a secret from the proper authorities.” Begin added that he did “not deny” the “objective possibility” of “including our neighbors who are called Palestinians” in the Israel-Egypt-U.S. autonomy talks, but not “under no circumstances whatsoever, the PLO.”
On the suspended F-16 warplanes, Begin said he hoped they would be in Israel before his own planned visit to Washington early in September.
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