Kuwait attempts to mediate in revolt

Press, 24 June 1983, Page 6

Kuwait attempts to mediate in revolt

of Saudi Arabia on Wednesday asking for help, and Kuwait’s Foreign Minister, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmed alSabah flew to Damascus

NZPA-Reuter Beirut Kuwait is trying to mediate in the mutiny within the Palestine Liberation Organisation as Syrian troops ring the strongholds of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah guerrillas in eastern Lebanon. Statements from both sides in the P.L.O. suggested that the revolt had become a battle to unseat Mr Arafat as chairman, a post in which he has become a world symbol of the Palestinian movement. Mr Arafat, who has quit Damascus in the face of what he calls a Syrianbacked mutiny in his own ranks, has pleaded from a new base in the north Lebanese city of Tripoli for aid from Arab leaders who have supported and funded his struggle for years. He telephoned King Fahd

yesterday. Syria has strongly denied Mr Arafat’s assertions that its tanks had helped hardline mutineers in his Fatah group to cut supply lines to Arafat loyalist positions in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

But Arafat commanders in the Bekaa yesterday renewed the allegations, saying that Syrian soldiers were encircling their bases. Reporters saw new Syrian checkpoints on nearby roads. Syria controls north and east Lebanon.

Mr Arafat, driven out of Beirut last year by the Israeli invasion, enjoys strong support in Tripoli, a run-down port which was the scene of bloody battles recently between pro-Syrian and anti-Syrian militias. His spokesman said yesterday that guerrillas loyal

to Mr Arafat were ready to fight if necessary, adding, “If the Arab world is ready to accept a new Masada for the Palestinians, then so be it.”

He was referring to the first century Jewish defenders of the Masada fortress who killed themselves and their loved ones rather than surrender to the legions of Rome. Mr Arafat’s spokesman said that the leadership had conceded all the rebels’ political demands, mainly for a harder line with Israel and no compromise with American peace efforts. But the rebels have now demanded that Mr Arafat give way to an emergency ruling committee until a general conference to debate his policies. The Arafat camp has refused.