The State Department reiterated today that it did not expect the delegation from the Arab League to include a member of the Palestine Liberation Organization when it comes here Friday to discuss the Fez summit conference decisions with the Reagan Administration.
“We have made it clear we will not receive a PLO official and we have no reason to expect that the Fez committee would disregard our wishes on this matter,” Department spokesman John Hughes said. Reports from Morocco over the weekend said the delegation, headed by King Hassan of Morocco who is chairman of the Arab League, would be expanded to include a PLO representative.
The report said that while the Arab group knew the Administration would not receive a PLO official, he would be lodged at a hotel while the group met with the Administration. But Hughes said today that the U.S. has had no discussion with the Arab League on whether it would allow a PLO member to enter the country. “We don’t expect it to happen,” he said. “We made our views plain and we expect our views to be respected.”
Hughes noted that the U.S. position on the PLO remains unchanged. “We will not recognize nor negotiate with that organization until it has accepted United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 and recognized Israel’s right to exist,” Hughes said.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
