President Carter has indicated that he believes a Palestinian “homeland” within “the framework” of Jordan represents one possibility in solving the Middle East conflict. He told pool reporters on his flight to Washington after addressing the United Nations Thursday night that his recent reference to “a Palestinian home” was “appropriate.”
“I think some provision has got to be made for the Palestinians in the framework of the nation of Jordan or by some other means,” the President was quoted as saying. But he declined to discuss what “other means” might be. Carter noted that Israel wants to deal with the Palestinian question within the framework of negotiations with Jordan, the reporters said. He also observed that “Jordan, Syria and Egypt are still trying to decide what kind of delegation the Arab countries want to have at a possible peace conference.”
The President also made it clear that U.S. policy has not changed with respect to contacts with the PLO. When he was asked, before leaving New York, whether the fact that he shook hands with PLO representative Hassan Abdul Rahman at the UN reception in his honor implied that “there would be further contacts between the U.S. officially and the Palestine Liberation Organization.” Carter replied, “Well, I doubt that, not until the PLO changes its attitude toward Israel.”
The President added: “Our commitment to Israel was made by the previous Administration but I have good hopes that the Palestinians and the Arab nations can get together among themselves first of all, and that when they, the Arab countries and Israel, get to Geneva this year, that there will be an adequate basis for progress. But for me to try to spell out exactly what their relationship might be in the future would be presumptuous. I don’t know how to do that.”
HERZOG REGRETS HANDSHAKE
Israeli Ambassador to the UN Chaim Herzog reacted sharply to the handshake with the PLO observer at the UN. Addressing the 75th anniversary banquet of Mizrachi-Hapoel Hamizrachi in New York tonight, he said “It must be a matter of deepest regret that in the bizarre situation which was created in the United Nations this past week the hand of the President of the United States was extended to the representative of an organization committed to the destruction of Israel, and it matters not whether such an act had political connotations or not.”
PALESTINIANS REAFFIRM ISRAEL’S DEMISE
Meanwhile, reports reaching here from Cairo today said that the Palestine National Council meeting there adopted a 15-point program that included the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and reaffirmed the long run strategic aim of dismantling the State of Israel. The program, adopted by a 194-13 vote, also laid down conditions for Palestinian participation in the Middle East negotiating process.
It ruled out the Geneva conference under its present terms of reference but said the PLO would negotiate under terms of the 1974 General Assembly resolution that reaffirmed the Palestinians’ right to self-determination, national independence and sovereignty and their right to return to their former homes in what is now Israel.
CALLS FOR MILITARY ESCALATION
The program called for escalation of the military and political struggle against Israel and stated that its aim was to “regain the inalienable national rights of the Palestinian people without peace or recognition of Israel.” This implied that the PLO would continue its efforts to eliminate Israel even after a Palestinian state is formed. The Council rejected Security Council Resolution 242 which, it said, “ignores the Palestine people” inasmuch as it defines the Palestinian issue as a refugee problem. It said that any settlement or agreements affecting Palestinian rights taken in their absence would be “null and void.”
The delegates accused the U.S. and Israel of inflexibility and stubbornness on the Palestinian issue and expressed disappointment with President Carter’s remarks about a Palestinian “homeland” because he did not specify where such a homeland would be. A Council spokesman told reporters after the voting that the 13 dissenting votes were cast by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine which wanted to rule out any negotiations with Israel.
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