An invitation by Foreign Minister Pierre Auber to a senior official of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Farouk Kaddoumi, to meet with him tomorrow in Bern has raised a storm of public protest. The protest has been so strong that television crews and photographers will be barred “for security reasons” from a press conference Kaddoumi is scheduled to hold after meeting with Auber. Kaddoumi, who is the PLO’s foreign policy spokesman, arrived today in Geneva.
The protest against Kaddoumi’s visit has been across the board. Swiss dailies have been carrying letters to the editor categorically opposing the visit. The Swiss Radical Party, which has two ministers in the seven-member coalition Cabinet, issued a strong statement declaring that a state reception for the PLO official would be “an insult to the innumerable innocent victims of PLO actions” and would confer a legitimacy on the PLO which it does not deserve.
The Federation of Swiss Jewish Communities has also lodged a strong protest with the government. It stated that while it understood the government’s desire that Switzerland be in a position to help mediate the Mideast conflict, the invitation to Kaddoumi is not a move in that direction. “The declarations made recently by the PLO indicate clearly that their aim is the destruction of Israel. The PLO also has not given up its terrorist activities,” the Federation statement said.
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