Robert Strauss, President Carter’s special Ambassador to the Middle East negotiations, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee yesterday that he saw no evidence of any change in the Palestine Liberation Organization’s attitude toward Israel or the Middle East peace process as a result of Rev, Jesse Jackson’s recent trip to the Middle East.
Strauss said he had a cordial meeting Monday with Jackson about the Black activist’s talks with PLO chief Yasir Arafat and other PLO officials. “Unhappily, I don’t think he brought back anything that moves the process along in any way, “he said. Strauss said he felt that the PLO would have to renounce terrorism and acknowledge Israel’s right to exist before the U.S. could consider negotiating with it.
Strauss, who took up his Mideast tasks earlier this year, was appearing before the Senate committee for a hearing prior to the Senate’s official confirmation of his nomination as the special Ambassador for Mideast negotiations.
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