King Hussein of Jordan and Yasir Arafat, leader of El Fatah, the Palestinian commando organization held a friendly meeting in Amman on Sunday, the first between the Hashemite monarch and the head of an Arab terrorist band. Observers said the meeting appeared to have opened a new and more cordial relationship between the Jordanian Government and the Palestinian commandos who have often been a thorn in its side.
Mr. Arafat was welcomed by the King as the newly elected chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, a group with which King Hussein had been at odds since its establishment in 1964. It is now recognized by Jordan and other Arab governments, and the King was said to be interested in getting along with it. Mr. Arafat, sometimes known as Abu Ammar, was accompanied by the PLO’s entire executive committee.
The most serious issue between Jordan and the PLO–the projected transfer of the 3,000-man Palestine Liberation Army from Egypt to Jordan–was not mentioned during the meeting. Official sources hinted that the subject has been dropped for three months or more, pending the outcome of Big Four talks on the Middle East. The Jordanian Government was not consulted about the transfer and was believed to be opposed to an additional influx of marauders on its soil.
(Terrorism drew fire late today from Foreign Minister Abba Eban in a reaction to the attack on the El Al airliner in Zurich. Calling the act “despicable.” he said it “demonstrates the character of these organizations which Egypt’s President Nasser unreservedly praised only a few days ago. There is no doubt that the executors of this act, as well as their masters, drew encouragement from the air of forgiveness shown towards them after the attack in Athens on Dec. 26.
“It should be recalled.” he said, “that the UN Security Council in its resolution (condemning Israel) did not devote even one word of condemnation to the attack at Athens…It will be surprising and indeed shocking if the world conscience will not be aroused against these kinds of criminal attacks on innocent civilians, on the freedom and safety of civilian aviation, and on the sovereignty of peaceloving countries.)
(At the UN, a spokesman said Secretary-General U Thant voiced hope that the attack, “dastardly as it is.” will not be followed by retaliation, “but rather by constructive international action to prevent such acts of violence against international civil aviation in the future. If the hitherto peaceful world of civil aviation is to be saved from chaos and anarchy, governments and peoples, regardless of their political views, must condemn actions of this kind and take all possible measures to prevent them.” the spokesman said.)
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