The American Embassy in London has denied that the United States urged Britain to maintain its contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization, as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher claims.
The embassy told The Jewish Chronicle that Washington asked no other country “to either acquiesce in our decision or to follow suit.”
According to the State Department, “The relationship which other nations have with the PLO is a matter for them to decide,” the Chronicle was told.
Asked if that meant the U.S. government denied making an approach to Britain, the embassy press officer replied, “This is quite clear.”
The United States suspended its talks with the PLO on June 20, denies because it refused to directly condemn an attempted terrorist attack on May 30 by one of its constituent organizations on beaches near Tel Aviv.
The dialogue, which began in December 1998, was conditional on the PLO’s renunciation of terrorism.
The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Lionel Kopelowitz, wrote to Thatcher asking Britain to emulate the American move.
The prime minister replied last month, “We do not think it would be wise to break off our contacts with the PLO. Indeed, the Americans have urged us to maintain them.”
A spokesman for Thatcher told the Chronicle, “We stand by what the prime minister said.”
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