West Bank Arabs in Somber Mood Following Break in Jordan-plo Talks and Death of Sartawi

Arabs on the West Bank and in East Jerusalem reacted somberly today to Jordan’s announcement that it is abandoning its efforts to gain Palestine Liberation Organization approval to negotiate with Israel on behalf of the Palestinians.

News of the assassination of PLO moderate Dr. Issam Sartawi in Portugal, only hours before the declaration from Amman yesterday, added sorrow to the general feeling that Palestinian political fortunes have reached a nadir. Sartawi, an advocate of mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO, apparently commanded a large following among Palestinian Arabs, judging from the widespread grief over his death.

That event, and Jordan’s decision to let the PLO and the Palestinians “go it alone” contributed to the feeling of despair among Arabs in the occupied territories who had pinned their hopes on King Hussein in recent months for a political settlement that would satisfy at least some of their aspirations.

They had felt that if Jordan joined the peace talks with the blessings of the PLO, some sort of compromise agreement could have been reached despite Israel’s unequivocal statements that it would accept no deviation from the Camp David accords.

COLLAPSE OF ARAB PEACE INITIATIVE

The intensive consultations between Hussein and PLO chief Yasir Arafat culminated in an agreement in principle several months ago which Palestinian circles saw as the beginning of an Arab peace initiative that would put Israeli policy on the defensive.

The Arab summit conference in Fez last September which rejected President Reagan’s peace initiative “in its present form” was the first indication that there was a wide gap between the PLO’s concept of an independent Palestinian state and the Jordanian position, based on the Reagan plan, which envisioned a self-governing Palestinian “entity” in association with Jordan.

Those differing concepts prevented an agreement between Arafat and Hussein, The PLO leader reportedly had insisted on amending the Reagan plan to bring it closer to the Fez summit resolutions which implied recognition of Israel, but only vaguely. This was unacceptable to Hussein. Arafat’s departure from Amman a week ago for Kuwait and later for radical South Yemen and statements by other PLO officials that the Reagan plan was unacceptable, culminated in the Jordanian Cabinet’s statement yesterday.

Nevertheless, some Palestinians remained hopeful and counseled a “wait-and-see” attitude, An East Jerusalem political weekly suggested today that the Amman statement was a tactical maneuver to secure more concessions from the U.S. in the way of pressure on Israel. But the same periodical admitted that there was little chance that Hussein would reverse his stand and conceded that such hopes were more wishful thinking than cold politic analysis.

The writer explained that the PLO fears that in any joint political venture with Jordan, Amman would make gains at the expense of the Palestinians. In any event, he said, Arafat could not convince the more extreme elements of the PLO that it was worthwhile to assign Hussein the role of negotiator for the Palestinians.

BELIEVE PLO PREFERS A STATEMENT

The PLO, in its present circumstances, is believed to prefer stalemate, even if it entails the loss of the West Bank to Israel, to what some consider political suicide for the organization. Stalemate in fact is what prevails at this Juncture.

Hussein cannot move toward any kind of settlement without PLO approval and the PLO can make no political gains without Hussein. Israel, for its part, had made it absolutely clear that it will not talk to Hussein except on the basis of Premier Menachem Begin’s narrow interpretation of Palestinian autonomy.

Ibrahim A-Tawil, the former Mayor of EI Bireh who was deposed by the Israeli authorities last year, said today, “I think it is (Jordan’s decision) a wise reaction because they announced that the Palestinian decision is an independent decision They didn’t close the door. They left the door open for negotiations in the future between the Jordanians and the Palestinians.”

Mustapha Doudin, head of the Israel-backed Village Leagues on the West Bank, observed that the Jordanian statement “is not more than tactics, until they discuss the whole problem with the Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia.”

But Anwar Nusseibeh, a former Jordanian Defense Minister who is considered to be Hussein’s unofficial spokesman on the West Bank, took a dimmer view. He said he did not expect the Jordanian-Palestinian dialogue to be fruitful because “the Israelis will remain inflexible, no matter what the Arabs do.”