Viet Cong Leader Backs Arabs; Says Israel is ‘tool of Imperialism’

Chairman Nguyen Hun Tho, of the central committee of the National Liberation Front for the Liberation of South Viet Nam (the Viet Cong) has condemned Israel as “the aggressive tool of imperialism” and voiced support of the Arab struggle against Israel, according to Egyptian broadcasts reported here today.

The Cairo radio said the Viet Cong leader cabled Ahmad Shukairy, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, that the Viet Cong “wished the Palestine (Arab) people further success in their struggle against Israel, the aggressive tool of imperialism, and the realization of their hope of returning to Palestine.”

(A Tel Aviv dispatch to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today reported that the Israel Communist Party received an Oriental New Year greeting from the Viet Cong. The message had been sent by the Viet Cong to the section of the Israel Communist Party led by Jews, instead of to the Communist dissident group in Israel composed chiefly of Arabs. Moscow recognizes the Jewish Communists in Israel.)

Shukairy thanked the Viet Cong and “on his own behalf and that of the Palestine people, expressed his sincerest wishes to the Vietnamese people in their struggle to liberate their homeland from American imperialism.” The Arab leader hoped “that the Vietnamese people would be able to achieve unification and that it would not be too long before peace prevails in Viet Nam.”

The Palestine Liberation Organization has urged a “war of national liberation” against the Jewish population of Israel, and has created guerrilla infiltration forces for raids across Israel’s borders. Shukairy was received last year by Communist Chinese leaders in Peking and was reportedly advised to initiate guerrilla warfare against Israel.