The Palestine Liberation Organization termed as “useless” today the Egyptian draft resolution introduced to the General Assembly yesterday to invite the PLO to take part in the Geneva conference on an equal footing.
Addressing a luncheon meeting here of the United Nations Correspondents Association, Farouk Kaddoumi, who is the head of the PLO delegation to the General Assembly debate on Palestine, said that the PLO expects that its own resolution, which calls on the General Assembly to set up a committee to implement the UN resolutions on the Palestinians and urges the suspension of Israel and the imposition of sanctions on the Jewish State, will come up for a vote tomorrow.
According to Kaddoumi, there are at least 20 sponsors for this resolution, He also said that the overwhelming majority of the non-aligned countries support the PLO, He reiterated that the PLO does not accept Security Council Resolution 242 on which the Geneva conference is based, He said that resolution ignores the national rights of the Palestinians,
Kaddoumi said that most of the African countries support the PLO demand that Israel be suspended from the United Nations unless it withdraws from the occupied Arab territories taken in 1967, Asked by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency if he considered Tel Aviv, for example, to be an occupied territory, Kaddoumi replied, “Yes, Tel Aviv is an occupied territory.”
Asked to comment on Egyptian President An war Sadat’s statement today to the Congress that the United States should establish contact with the PLO, Kaddoumi said he believed that if the two superpowers recognized the PLO, the tension in the Middle East would be reduced, He pointed out however, that for the time being “we have no contact with the U.S. if the U.S. wants it they are most welcome,” he added,
Referring to Sadat’s current visit to the U.S., Kaddoumi said that if the PLO would have been asked it would have advised the Egyptian President to postpone the visit because the relationship between the Arabs should have been clarified first, (See separate story on Sadat’s speech to Congress,)
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