Suspending PLO contacts correct course of action

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Suspending PLO contacts correct course of action arious analysts are saying that President Bush's decision to suspend contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization be- cause it did not condemn an attempted terrorist attack by some of its members may lead to a re- sumption of widespread terrorism.

Ironically, in attempting to express reserva- tions about the president's decision, they may have offered the best justification possible for it.

Implicit in their statements is the notion that we must tolerate a lit- tle terrorism in order Palestine Liber- to win "moderation" by the PLO, or we'll ation Organiza- have to endure a lot of tion is, at heart, a terrorist And implicit in that organization notion is the simple and unfortunate truth that the Palestine Liberation Organization is, at heart, a terrorist organization.

Maybe Yasser Arafat, the PLO's ostensible leader, truly wanted to try a different course when he agreed 18 months ago to (more or less) recognize Israel's right to exist and (more or less) renounce violence. But the fact is it doesn't really matter very much what Yasser Arafat wanted. As the intercepted assault on an Israeli beach by a PLO sub-group demonstrates, Mr.

Arafat does not control what the organization does. On the contrary, his refusal to condemn the attack demonstrates that the organization - es- pecially its most bloodthirsty elements - con- trols him.

He dares not speak out against their murderous ways because he knows he would probably lose his position as chairman, titular though it may be The U.S. government's agreement was to talk to the PLO in exchange for that organization's adoption of civilized methods of political dis- course — not to accept it as a legitimate political element merely because its figurehead chairman cleaned up his own act a bit.

The PLO as a group did not do that, and Ara- fat is powerless to do anything about it, so Bush was correct to suspend the relationship. Actually, the fact that the president only sus- pended, rather than ended, the talks provides a perfect opportunity for the PLO to show the world its true colors.

It can prove that it is the upstanding, trustwor- thy party that it claims to be merely by taking strong action against its members who violated Mr. Arafat's pledge. Or it can prove that it is a savage band of murderers and cowards by revert- ing to its old terrorist ways.

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"Suspending PLO contacts correct course of action," Springfield News Sun, 1 July 1990. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1990-019. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1990-019