New Israeli Envoy to U.S. Stresses PLO Now in Disarray

Meir Rosenne, Israel’s new Ambassador to the United States, claimed here that Israel has achieved “positive benefits” from the war in Lebanon, one of them being the crushing of the Palestine Liberation Organization which is now in disarray.

Rosenne addressed the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations yesterday in what was his first public appearance since he assumed his post in Washington. He was formerly Israel’s Ambassador to France. He stressed that “without an independent base of operation” such as it enjoyed in Lebanon, “the PLO is incapable of mounting an effective military or political attack against Israel.” He noted that the mutiny against PLO chief Yasir Arafat among his own El Fatah group confirmed the benefits of Israel’s “Peace for Galilee” operation.

“Thanks to the courage and skill of Israel’s Defense Forces, the PLO threat to Israel — confirmed by the documents discovered and the huge arms supplies seized by Israel in Lebanon — has been crushed,” Rosenne said. “The circle of peace has been widened to include Beirut as well as Cairo. And Israel’s relations with America and with Europe continue to improve following our signing of a withdrawal agreement with Lebanon while Syria proves itself the intransigent party,” he said.

The Israeli envoy however accused the world community of hypocricy and a double standard. Sanctions imposed on Israel when it invaded Lebanon “are absent when it comes to Syria,” he said.

Earlier in the meeting Julius Berman was reelected by acclamation to a second one-year term as chairman of the Presidents Conference.

Berman, who introduced Rosenne, declared; “Mr. Ambassador, we pledge to you — as we pledged to your predecessors over the past 25 years — the commitment each of us has made as individuals and as representatives of our organizations to strengthen the friendship, the common purpose and the shared values that mark the relationship of Israel and the United States.”