The Reagan Administration said it was “pleased” by the exchange of six Israeli prisoners for some 4,600 Palestinian prisoners and viewed it as “a step toward the resolution of the problems which confront Lebanon.”
State Department deputy spokesman Alan Romberg said that while the United States since 1982 has repeatedly discussed the prisoner issue with “concerned parties,” it played no part in the final discussions that led to the exchange. He stressed that the concerned parties with which the United States had talked did not include the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Asked about the reported Saudi Arabian-mediated agreement to end the Palestinian factional fighting in Tripoli, Romberg replied with a terse “obviously we welcome any inter-Arab solution to the strife which has taken so many innocent Palestinian and Lebanese lives.”
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