The West German government has decided for the first time to receive an official delegation from the Palestine Liberation Organization, a top aide to Chancellor Helmut Kohl said Friday.
The meeting is being planned for this autumn. The exact dates and the members of the delegation are still under discussion.
The aide said that Bonn felt it could no longer indefinitely delay the establishment of official contacts with the PLO.
“We are merely doing, very late, what others, including the Americans, have done before,” the aide said, referring to the 8-month-old U.S. dialogue with the PLO.
The official also pointed out that European Community leaders agreed at their recent summit meeting in Madrid that the PLO should “participate” in the Middle East peace process, as opposed to simply being “associated” with it, as previous E.C. declarations had stated.
The aide ruled out a visit by PLO leader Yasir Arafat in the foreseeable future, but said that other top officials of the organization may be part of the delegation.
Observers here have speculated that the PLO would send Bassam Abu Sharif, Arafat’s right-hand man.
The decision appears to be part of a growing desire on the part of West Germans to engage in dialogue with the PLO.
EAST GERMANS HONOR ARAFAT
The movement began three months ago, when the opposition Social Democratic Party decided to invite an official PLO delegation to Bonn, which will arrive in September.
Last month, the PLO permanent representative in Bonn, Abdallah Frangi, was received for the first time at the Foreign Ministry, for an hour-long talk with Juergen Sudhoff, a political director.
Meanwhile, East Germany, which has long had warm relations with the PLO, has given Arafat one of its most prestigious awards.
The PLO leader received a high state decoration known as “The Great Star of Friendship Among the Peoples.”
Announcement of the award came Saturday, as the PLO’s Al Fatah wing was convening in Tunis and as Arafat celebrated his 60th birthday.
East Germany is a longtime PLO supporter. It provides assistance and facilities for training PLO members in various locations around the country, most notably a complex of military camps near the former Buchenwald concentration camp.
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