The New York Times · 2 June 1974

CP-1974-026

Palestinians Gather in Cairo to Map Future Policies

By HENRY TANNER, Special to The New York Times

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Transcribed from the clipping

CAIRO, June 1—More than 150 members of the Palestine National Council, the parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organization, opened a four-day meeting here today to discuss policies to be followed in the coming months.

The gathering, at the headquarters of Arab League, next to the Hilton Hotel in downtown Cairo, may become one of the most important meetings held by the Palestinians since their guerrilla movement was founded 10 years ago.

At stake is the question whether the guerrillas should now take part in the search for negotiated settlement with Israel or continue to rely on armed action alone.

At the opening session today the chairman of the council, Khaled Fahoum, said the Palestinian cause was living through a crucial period and the debate therefore would help determine “the fate of generations” of Palestinians.

Message From Sadat President Anwar el-Sadat, in a message, stressed that the Syrian and Egyptian disengagement agreements were purely military in character and constituted “the beginning and not the end of the struggle.” The tone of the message seemed to take into account that many Palestinian leaders have been critical of Mr.

Sadat’s advocacy of a policy of peace supported by the United States. The council also received a message of support from Premier Chou En-lai of China. The meeting took place behind closed doors. With the signing yesterday of a disengagement agreement between Syria and Israel, the Palestinian question has become the central issue of the Middle East conflict.

A minority, led by George Habash, the head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has made it known publicly that it will reject all proposals for accommodation.

A moderate majority, including Yassir Arafat, the chairman of the Palestine Liberation organization, the umbrella group, is known to feel that the Palestinians should send a delegation to the Geneva peace conference if the conditions are right. Individual members of this majority are believed to have widely divergent views on what these conditions should be.

The members of the council will also elect a new enlarged executive committee for the Palestine Liberation Organization. The new executive will have 15 members compared with nine in the old one.

How this transcription was made

Transcribed from the slide scan by a reader working off magnified crops, not by optical character recognition. The newspaper is printed on the clipping in the credit line “Special to The New York Times” beneath the byline, and again in a running head across the top which the clipping is cut through, leaving only the lower halves of the letters. The date is established from the printed dateline of 1 June together with the article’s own references: the Syrian-Israeli disengagement agreement signed the previous day, 31 May 1974, and the Palestine Liberation Organization described as founded ten years earlier.

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