Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan flatly rejected a suggestion to meet with a senior representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization during his official visit to West Germany this week. The offer was made through a senior German official, it was learned today.
Dayan, who returned from Bonn yesterday, reportedly told the German intermediary that he would see a PLO representative only if such a meeting would save lives but never if the purpose was political. PLO representatives have met privately during the past year with Israeli doves in Europe and in the U.S. None of the Israelis held public office or represented any substantial political constituency at the time of the meetings.
The offer by the PLO to meet with Dayan was the first initiative made public in which a top Israeli government official was involved. It was regarded with interest here in view of the PLO’s bitter opposition to Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s peace initiatives toward Israel.
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