The political committee of Mapam. a member of Premier Yitzhak Rabin’s Labor Alignment, approved today a series of resolutions on the issue of negotiating with the Palestinians which, in totality, differed from that of the government but which were not in complete negation of the government position.
The government’s position, as approved by the Cabinet Sunday, is that Israel would continue to seek peace in the Middle East by negotiations with Jordan as the representative of the Palestinian Arabs and that it would not negotiate with “terrorist organizations.”
The Mapam resolutions leave an opening for negotiations with Palestinian representatives other than King Hussein of Jordan. Mapam also would leave it to the Palestinian Arabs to decide how they would be represented when the Geneva peace conference is resumed–either within the Jordanian delegation or in another form.
Mapam sources said the government’s statement was couched in negative terms–that there would be no negotiations with terrorist organizations–while Mapam would be prepared to negotiate with those “other factors” among the Palestinians prepared to recognize Israel’s right to exist and to negotiate secure and agreed borders with Israel.
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