For the first time, the British government is advocating talks between Israel and Palestinian Arabs without any specific role for the Palestine Liberation Organization.
This unexpected and rather dramatic development follows a decision by the foreign secretary, Douglas Hurd, to suspend ministerial discussions with the PLO because of its support for Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s occupation of Kuwait.
Hurd said he would not authorize any further meetings unless the PLO dropped its support for Baghdad. PLO chief Yasir Arafat, he emphasized, had made a “serious mistake.”
During his visit to the Gulf states this week, Hurd emphasized to their rulers a significant change in British policy. He is said to have made the point that the British government favored meetings between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs, even while the Gulf crisis was being resolved.
He did not mention the PLO.
Whenever the question of settling the Arab-Israeli conflict arose in the past in talks between British ministers, there was agreement that a role must be given the PLO, and this was specifically stated.
In view of the PLO’s support for Saddam Hussein and PLO chief Yasir Arafat’s strenuous efforts to prevent joint Arab action against him, the Gulf states are not thought to have voiced any protests at Hurd’s omission of the PLO.
NO CHAMPION OF ARAFAT’S CAUSE
President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, who feels betrayed by Arafat’s support for Iraq, is also likely to remain silent. At present, it appears that Mubarak is no longer prepared to champion Arafat’s cause.
Should the British government stick to the new policy formulation, Hurd would be greeted enthusiastically when he arrives in Israel next month. The Israeli government has argued vehemently that the PLO must not be included in any peace negotiations because it has basically remained a terrorist group.
The British government had in the past argued that the PLO had adopted a new moderate stance. This plus the fact that it represented a vast majority of the Palestinian Arabs signified it could not be omitted from any talks with Israel.
The Foreign Office in the past coolly dismissed Israeli protests at meetings between Hurd, William Waldegrave, the Foreign Office minister, and PLO emissaries.
For the Foreign Office to take such a drastic step against the PLO is believed to have been difficult.
Conscious of the damage to its cause, the PLO is making efforts to convince the Western powers that it is distancing itself from Saddam Hussein and is backing neither his invasion of Kuwait nor the American presence in Saudi Arabia.
His efforts toward the West have not prevailed. The Arab League, moreover, is experiencing a sharp rift.
On Monday, the league’s veteran secretary-general, Chedli Klibi, resigned. Klibi, a Tunisian who had held the position for more than 10 years, gave no reason for his resignation, but it was believed to have stemmed from chastisement he received at an Arab League meeting by the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Syria.
Prince Saud al-Faisal and Farouk al-Sharaa apparently criticized Klibi because he did not press Iraq to pull its troops out of Kuwait and restore its government.
Iraq’s information minister accused Egypt of directing Klibi’s resignation in order to assume power in the league.
Meanwhile, the Gulf state of Qatar has expelled many Palestinians, among them several prominent officials of the PLO.
In the group of more than 70 families who were expelled were at least four members of the Palestine National Council, the PLO’s so-called parliament in exile.
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