U.S. Won’t Say Whether It Sent Message to PLO Urging Restraint in Lebanon

The State Department refused to publicly say today whether it had sent a message to the Palestine Liberation Organization through United Nations Secretary General Kurt Waldheim urging restraint in Lebanon.

David Passage, a State Department spokesman, said that because of “the delicate nature of the situation in Lebanon and the delicate nature of the negotiations” being conducted, the United States was unwilling to “be specific about the contacts” it has been having over the situation in Lebanon.

But Passage stressed “I am neither signalling a change in policy on this (the PLO), nor has there been a change of policy.” The U.S. policy on the PLO since 1975 has been that it will not have any contacts with the PLO until it accepts Israel’s right to exist and UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338.

A UN spokesman said Friday that Secretary of State Alexander Haig had sent a message to Waldheim, asking him to contact the PLO and urging it to exercise restraint in Lebanon.

HINTS CONTACT LEFT TO WALDHEIM

A State Department source said today that the message to Waldheim probably did not contain a specific message to the PLO but rather referred to all parties concerned in the Lebanese crisis. The source also said that it was expected that Waldheim knew that one of the parties he should contact was the PLO.

The U.S. has said from the beginning of the current Lebanese crisis that the PLO has been contacted by parties which have influence with it.

Meanwhile, Passage deplored the fighting that has broken out in Lebanon in the last two days, specifically mentioning the exchange of artillery fire in Beirut yesterday and the reported shelling by Col. Saad Haddad’s Christian militia force in South Lebanon of the Beaufort Castle today. “This continued and indiscriminate bloodshed should be stopped immediately,” Passage said, reading from a written statement.

Passage said the violence in Beirut was particularly bloody and served “no useful purpose other than the killing of people.” He said the U.S. has urged the people who have contact with and influence over the various parties involved to urge the maximum restraint in Lebanon.”

NO COMMENT ON BEGIN’S “TIME LIMIT”

Passage refused to comment on a statement by Premier Menachem Begin today that there was a time limit for Israel to wait for the Syrians to remove their SAM-6 anti-aircraft missiles from Lebanon. Philip Habib, President Reagan’s special envoy to the Middle East, said Friday after reporting to Reagan on his three week mission in the area, that he had not been given any deadline by any of the leaders of the countries he visited. Passage said that Habib will return to the Middle East sometime this week but that no firm date or travel plans had been set. Habib said last week that peace over Lebanon was “achievable.”