Vital hurdle faced in bid to solve P.L.O. mutiny

Press, 5 July 1983, Page 10

Vital hurdle faced in bid to solve P.L.O. mutiny

NZPA-Reuter Damascus Mediators from the Palestine Liberation Organisation conferred yesterday with leaders of a revolt against its chairman, Mr Yasser Arafat, in a bid to resolve the dispute without new bloodshed. Informed sources said that a critical stage may have been reached in the attempt to find a peaceful solution to the two-month mutiny against Mr Arafat in the ranks of his own Fatah guerrilla group, the largest in the P.L.O.

The mediators, six members of the P.L.O.’s executive committee, started talks in Damascus after flying from Tunis, the Tunisian capital, where Mr Arafat now has his base.

He . was expelled from Syria and Syrian-held areas of Lebanon, where the frontline guerrillas are located, on June 24 after angering Syria with allegations that its troops helped the guerrilla mutineers in clashes with loyalists.

After five hours of talks with the mediators, the rebels’ leader, Nimir Saleh, said: “We are optimistic that the plan we presented along with our demands will be achieved and we request the other side to respond.” He was referring to the rebels’ request for the setting up of an interim leadership, but informed sources said that Mr Arafat had rejected this demand. Syria’s attitude is crucial and the P.L.O. has also briefed the mediators to try to heal the rift between Mr Arafat and President Hafez

Assad. They met the Foreign Minister, Mr AbdelHalim Khaddam yesterday. Skirmishing continued between pro and anti-Arafat groups in the Syrian-con-trolled Bekaa Valley of east Lebanon yesterday, despite a cease-fire proclaimed four days ago. But a dissident leader said in Damascus that news reports had exaggerated the scale of clashes. Syria denies it has helped the rebels militarily, but it shares their views. Both Syria and the rebels denounced Mr Arafat’s attempt earlier this year to join King Hussein of Jordan in exploring President Ronald Reagan’s Middle East peace plan. Informed sources say that there is no sign yet that Syria is ready to normalise relations with Mr Arafat. Syria’s official news media has said that the matter must be resolved within Fatah itself.

But one of the mediators, Muhammed Zuhdi Nashashibi, said that the meeting with Mr Khaddam was positive. Nothing has been said yet on whether the mediators will meet Mr Assad.

According to Western diplomats in the Syrian capital, the American Secretary of State, Mr George Shultz, will visit today to discuss the separate issue of a foreign troop withdrawal from Lebanon.

Israel has agreed to withdraw its troops, but only if Syria and the P.L.O. also pull their forces out. Syria has denounced the IsraeliLebanese agreement as a danger to Arab security. Mr Shultz was due to fly

from Islamabad to Saudi Arabia at the start of his four-nation Middle East trip. The trip to Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria and Israel was tacked on to Mr Shultz’s Asian tour, which ended yesterday with a dinner given by the President of Pakistan, General Muhammad Zia-Ul-Haq. Western diplomats in Damascus said that he would arrive there today. Syria, which holds the key to his mission, had earlier refused to receive the American special envoy, Philip Habib.

Mr Shultz said that he would not undertake a shuttle mission like the one he made in May to tie up the Israeli-Lebanese agreement. The aim of his trip would be to get a first-hand impression of the situation in the region to give to Mr Reagan. “In the process, if things can be moved along towards the attainment of the objectives that we and others have set, obviously I want to do that,” he said. But Mr Shultz said that he saw no real prospect of a breakthrough on Lebanon while he is in the region. On a visit to the Khyber Pass on the PakistanAfghanistan border Mr Shultz called hundreds of cheering Afghan refugees “fellow freedom fighters” and said that they were not alone in their struggle. “You fight valiantly and your spirit inspires the world,” he told the refugees in a tent in tfite Nasir-Bagha refugee camp. “I want you to know you do not fight alone.”