Robin: Israel Insists Checks on Guerrilla Activity Be Part of Cease-fire Agreement

Israeli Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin confirmed late yesterday afternoon that his government is insisting that checks on guerrilla activities be part of a cease-fire arrangement. He told newsmen that a cease-fire could be viable only “in regard to everything that is done or not done from their own (Arab) territories.” He added that newsmen “can imply” from that comment that the subduing of terrorist activities by the Jordanian government is essential. American officials indicated yesterday that the U.S. will endorse that condition. Ambassador Rabin made his remarks after an hour-long meeting with Joseph J. Sisco, Assistant Secretary of States for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. The subject of the meeting was “guidance” on Israel’s sought-for “clarifications” of the provisions of the United States-proposed temporary cease-fire. It was the third Rabin-Sisco conference since Egypt’s acceptance of the U.S. initiative last Thursday. State Department spokesman Robert J. McCloskey told newsmen today that he had “nothing to report on the Middle East.” other than to say there would be no meeting this week between Soviet Ambassador Anatoly F. Dobrynin and Mr. Sisco. He declined comment on a London Times report that the Soviet Union has sent a third shipment of arms to Libya.

GUERRILLAS VOW BLOODBATH IF U.S. PLAN ACCEPTED; EGYPT CLOSES GUERRILLA RADIO STATIONS

Meanwhile, reports received here from various Arab capitals showed continuing and growing rifts between the governments and guerrilla groups over the acceptance by Egypt. Sudan and Jordan of the U.S. peace plan. Reports from Egypt today stated the government ordered a “temporary” shut-down of two Cairo-based guerrilla radio stations, the voice of Palestine and the Voice of Saiqa, because of the attitude of “some Palestinian organizations towards Egypt’s acceptance of the American initiative.” The Cairo newspaper Al-Akhbar also issued a broadside against the guerrilla groups. In addition. Dr. Hassan Al-Kholy, representing President Gamal Abdel Nasser, flew to Damascus to confer with President Nureddin al-Attasi, presumably to urge reversal of Syria’s opposition to the initiative. The authoritative newspaper Al Ahram rejected curbs on guerrilla activities under the U.S. plan, saying the plan, “even if it were implemented, does not constitute any new position for the Palestinian resistance organizations.” Al Ahram averred that the American cease-fire proposals apply only to the Suez Canal front because Egypt two years ago denounced the 1967 United Nations cease-fire there. The proposals do not apply to Jordanian terrorists, it claimed, because Jordan has never denounced the 1967 cease-fire. The Egyptian paper Al Akhbar scored the drive for joint anti-truce guerrilla action.

Reports from Amman stated that yesterday’s demonstration of an estimated 5,000-15,000 youths and guerrilla bands fizzled out without incident after original and sporadic reports that fights had broken out in the Jordanian capital. The demonstration took the form of a four-hour march in protest over the acceptance of the U.S. peace plan. It was reported yesterday that Lebanon and Kuwait have also accepted the initiative. The Amman march was coordinated by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Many of the guerrillas bore arms, contrary to the terms of their July 7 pact with the government. Demonstrators carried signs reading “The guns of our fighters will determine the fate of the Palestinian people” and “We will change the area into hell if settlement is imposed.” Meanwhile, the El Fatah newspaper said yesterday in Amman that the Palestinian National Congress will hold a meeting of Arab “brothers” at the bid of the 10-group Central Committee of Guerrilla Organizations. The Committee also called for the coordination of the various groups for concentrated anti-Israel activities designed to sabotage implementation of the U.S. initiative. El Fatah asserted that “Even if all Arab rifles fall silent, our rifles will continue shooting at the enemy.” There were also reports that Iraq called today for the creation of a “united front of Arab regimes and other forces opposed to the American peace plan in the Middle East – a united front which would work against implementing the plan.” In Algiers, the semi-official paper Al Moudjahid expressed solidarity with the guerrillas.