Secretary of State George Shultz criticized Washington’s West European allies today for moving toward legitimizing the Palestine Liberation Organization before the terrorist organization changes its policy.
“If PLO policy changes, that fact will be acknowledged,” Shultz said in a speech to the Pilgrims Society in London. “Unlike some of our European friends, however, we feel that gestures toward the PLO while it has not accepted (United Nations Security Council Resolutions) 242 and 338 only mislead its leaders into thinking their present inadequate policy is gaining them international acceptance and stature.”
In his speech, copies of which were made available by the State Department here, Shultz stressed that it seems obvious that the PLO excludes itself as a player so long as it rejects” the two Security Council resolutions “and Israel’s right to exist.”
Shultz added that “we shall see” whether the PLO becomes a more moderate organization or renounces the “armed struggle” against Israel. “Meanwhile, the PLO is not entitled to any payment in advance so long as it rejects what are, after all, the basic premise of the peace process. A country cannot be expected to make concessions to those who resort to terrorism and who treat negotiation as only a way station on the road to its ultimate destruction,” he said.
Shultz said that the U.S. seeks to encourage “moderate solutions” in the Mideast and elsewhere “not only by our own good faith but by denying success to those who seek radical solutions.”
He noted that “moderates like Egypt and Jordan work actively for peace. But radicals oppose it.” He said it was “partly true” that “the slowness of the peace process is a source of radicalism because it builds frustration.”
However, Shultz stressed, “the violence comes from the enemies of peace, from those who would be more angry if the peace process were making rapid progress. These extremists must be resisted, not appeased. They must be shown that military options don’t exist, that blackmail and pressures will get nowhere — and that negotiation is the only possible hope for achievement of legitimate Arab objectives.”
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