The State Department said today that the positions taken by the Palestine National Council meeting in Cairo “do not contribute to a resolution of the problems” in the Middle East.
A written statement read to reporters by Department spokesman Frederick Z. Brown, said: “We have said before that one of the difficulties in resolving the Middle East problem is that the PLO has not accepted Israel’s existence and the Security Council’s resolutions on which the Geneva conference negotiations are based. The decisions of the Palestine National Congress in Cairo have not altered the situation and therefore do not contribute to a resolution of the problem.”
Brown refused to characterize the PLO decisions that reaffirm its demands for the elimination of Israel. But he said the U.S. will continue its efforts for an agreement and noted that President Carter will be meeting with key Arab leaders over the next two months “to do what we can to solve the problems of the Middle East.” He declined to comment on other aspects of the Cairo decisions, including one to organize all Palestinians, wherever they may be, into a single military organization under PLO leadership.
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