The visit here of Palestine Liberation Organization representative Farouk Kaddumi last week was a political failure on all grounds and a public relations disaster as well.
Kaddumi, the PLO’s foreign affairs spokesman, failed to achieve any of the objectives he had set for himself. He was not received by Italy’s President, Sondro Pertini; he was not granted on audience with Pope John Paul II; and he did not obtain Italy’s recognition of the PLO as the “sole legitimate representative of the Polestinian people.”
At a press conference which he called, the PLO official was sharply grilled on the disappearance in Lebanon 18 months ago of two Italian journalists, Italo Toni and Graziella de Palo. They disappeared in territory dominated by PLO forces.
De Palo’s parents, who attended the press conference, said they had received personal assurances from PLO chief Yasir Arafat that their daughter was alive. Arafat made a statement to that effect to the Italian news. agency ANSA last June, However, the De Palos said they suffered repeated disappointments in their efforts to obtain further information.
Kaddumi’s refusal to meet with members of the family or to reply to their questions provoked a negative reaction in the Italian press. He was also criticized for brushing aside the diplomatically “sensitive” issue of PLO arms shipments to Italian terrorist groups.
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