U.S. reviews Palestine stance

Press, 12 February 1986, Page 10

U.S. reviews Palestine stance

By ALEXANDER HIGGINS, of the Associated Press (through NZPA) The Reagan Administration says it believes the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s leader, Yasser Arafat, would not undermine Palestinian rights by accepting United Nations resolutions that refer to them only as refugees. The State Department, in what it called its fullest exposition of the American position on Palestinian rights, said yesterday that the United States considered Palestinians to have rights beyond those spelled out in United Nations Security Council resolutions 242 and 338. King Hussein of Jordan

has been trying for months to persuade Mr Arafat to go along with gthe United States demand that he accept the United Nations resolutions as a way to get peace talks going with Israel. But Mr Arafat, who objects to the resolutions in part because they refer to the Palestinians only as “the refugee problem”, left Amman, Jordan, over the week-end after 13 days of talks with King Hussein in their latest round of meetings. The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, said on Sunday that King Hussein’s efforts with Mr Arafat had ended in “complete failure.” “It would be premature

to describe the HusseinArafat talks as a failure,” said State Department spokesman, Charles Redman, yesterday. “The King clearly maintains his commitment to the peace process and remains determined to see the process through.” The United States repeatedly had cautioned that progress in the peace process would come only in small steps. Mr Redman then read what he called a review of the United States position on Palestinian rights, but another State Department official said later, “This is the fullest exposition that we have given.” The United States has

for more than a decade refused to deal direct with the P.L.0., but the second State Department official said that the review was "said in the light of the discussions that have been going on in Amman.” In essence, the United States was saying that Palestinian rights would’ be whatever could be achieved by the Arabs in negotiations, he said. “We have previously stated our realisation that the Palestinian problem is more than a refugee question,” said Mr Redman. “Indeed, President Reagan said this in his initiative of September 1, 1982.

“Beyond that, there should be no confusion

between resolution 242 and the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people. They deal with different issues and are in fact complementary.” He said that 242, passed after the 6-day war of June, 1967, “established ‘territory for peace’ as the internationally accepted formula for resolving the situation arising from the hostilities”.

Israel would give up occupied territory in exchange for peace treaties, as in the withdrawal from the Sinai under an IsraeliEgyptian peace treaty of 1979.

Resolution 338, passed after the Yom Kippar war of October, 1973, renews the call for peace talks.