Middle echelon Arab diplomats from nine nations are meeting in Cairo in an effort to end the bloody conflict between the Jordanian government and Palestinian guerrillas. But King Hussein reportedly rejected their appeal that he settle his differences directly with El Fatah leader Yassir Arafat. Hussein has demanded a full scale Arab summit meeting which, he insists, is the only way to deal with the situation in his kingdom. The Algerian representative at the Cairo meeting reportedly supported a meeting of Arab foreign ministers to be followed by a summit conference that would seek to end the fighting. The guerrillas, meanwhile, claimed that Hussein’s forces have launched a full scale attack on their positions in the north. The Jordanian government reportedly has prepared an amnesty law that would pardon about 900 fedayeen now in jail for illegal possession of weapons. Sources said the law would become effective as soon as all guerrillas leave Amman.
Syria, whose abortive intervention on the guerrillas’ side in last September’s Jordanian civil war led to the downfall of the Baathist regime in Damascus, has how joined Jordan in peace efforts. According to reports from Damascus, Syria and Jordan and the central committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization have set up a six-man committee to supervise peace arrangements. Maj. Gen. Mustafa Tias, the Syrian Chief of Staff, visited Hussein last week and met with guerrilla representatives in Amman. He said afterwards that agreement was reached on the new committee that will supersede the now defunct all-Arab committee established after the civil war to supervise the truce. He said the new committee is empowered to decide on all past and future troubles between Jordanian authorities and the commandos.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
