U.S. Characterizes El Fatah As ‘terrorist’ but Not PLO As Whole

The U.S. government has publicly characterized El Fatah, the largest group within the Palestine Liberation Organization as “terrorist” and has come closer than ever before to identifying its leader, Yassir Arafat, as a terrorist. The American position was announced by the State Department’s chief spokesman, Hodding Carter, Friday in the aftermath of the terrorist bombing of the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem for which El Fatah claimed responsibility.

Carter said his statement “represents the Administration’s view on the question of the PLO and terrorism” and “clearly supersedes any other statements that have been made.” The U.S., however, continues to refrain from describing the PLO as a whole as a terrorist organisation and maintains its policy of being prepared to communicate with the PLO when that body accepts United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 which imply recognition of Israel and call for peace negotiations.

The issue of the PLO came to the fore last week when Alfred L. Atherton, President Carter’s Ambassodorat-Large to the Middle East informed a Senate Foreign Relations Committee subcommittee that the U.S. has not had “the occasion to characterize” the PLO as “terrorist or non-terrorist” but that It was regarded as on “umbrella organization” composed of diverse elements.

Carter would not say what prompted the U.S. to make its most for-reaching condemnation of El Fatah Friday. It was understood from State Department sources that Vice President Walter Mondale’s current visit to Israel and the Carter Administration’s desire to repair its relations with Israel and the American Jewish community were major factors in the condemnation.

ANTI-TERRORIST MEASURES PENDING IN CONGRESS

Meanwhile, legislation aimed at fighting international terrorism, such as the PLO engages in, is pending in both houses of Congress. The Carter Administration is backing a measure introduced by Sen. Abraham Ribicoff (D. Conn.) that would empower the President to impose sanctions against court ries identified as aiding and abetting terrorism. In the House, Rep. Robert K. Doman (R. Calif.) has proposed a three-point measure to curb terrorists and their supporters in the U.S. It would exclude admission to this country of any alien affiliated with a terrorist organization and direct the Attorney General to investigate the activities of any person registered as a foreign agent of a terrorist organization. The Doman bill has more then 30 backers from both parties but the Carter Administration has not yet expressed itself on the legislation.