PLO Official Warns That Any Palestinian Accepting the Autonomy Plan Would Be Considered a Traitor

The General Assembly opened its debate on the Palestine question today under the shadow of the crisis in Iran. UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim has called for an immediate meeting of the Security Council to deal with the hostage situation in the U.S. Embassy in Teheran. The Security Council today agreed to debate the U.S.-Iran crisis but set no date for the meeting.

The principal speaker at the opening of the General Assembly session was Farouk Kaddoumi, the “foreign minister” of the Palestine Liberation Organization, who reiterated the PLO’s positions and declared that the Palestinian people reject the autonomy plan now under discussion between Egypt, Israel and the U.S. He warned that any Palestinian supporting this plan would be considered “a traitor.”

The PLO official also called on the U.S. to stop supporting Israel and appealed to the American public to persuade the Administration to change its Middle East policy. Kaddoumi claimed that the Palestinian question is the core of the Middle East conflict and said that as long as it is not solved there will be no peace in the region. He said the PLO would continue its “struggle,” holding a rifle in one hand and an olive branch in the other.

Kaddoumi maintained that the PLO covenant does not call for the destruction of Israel, as Israel claims, but rather “for the liberation of Palestine.”

The Palestine debate will continue for the next three days. The General Assembly will hear the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People. The committee is recommending the return of Palestinians to their homes and the establishment of an independent Palestinian entity. Israel Ambassador Yehuda Blum will address the General Assembly tomorrow.