Israelis and Palestinian guerrilla representatives may meet at the leftist-sponsored Bologna Conference on Peace in the Middle East scheduled for May 11-13 if El Fatah leader Yassir Arafat has his way and sends a Palestine Liberation Organization delegation.
A three-member investigatory team which visited Beirut, Damascus and Cairo, reported to a preparatory meeting of the conference that Arafat, the PLO head, was willing to send an ad hoc delegation, conference sources said today. It would not be a formal PLO delegation, the sources said, since Arafat faces considerable opposition from within the organization to the idea of sending anyone at all.
The investigatory team, which arrived in Bologna Saturday from Cairo, comprised Remo Salati of Italy, Maurice Barth of France and Said Rifai of Egypt. The team reported it had been in contact with leaders from a wide political spectrum that included Socialists, Baathists and Communists.
The preparatory meeting also received a letter announcing the formation of an Israeli committee for the Bologna conference comprising representatives of Rakah Communists and other opposition leftist groups including Brith Hasmol, Ha’olam and Siah.
Young Communist delegates from Russia, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Hungary and East Germany are expected in Israel next week to attend the three-day Rakah Communist Youth Convention opening there April 12. Delegations are also expected from Cyprus and from the World Federation of Democratic Youth which has its headquarters in Budapest.
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