Back to PLO Bulletin 1-15 July 1979

PALESTINE NOTES

ARAFAT SAYS THE U.S. HAS TO RECOGNIZE THE PLO

Chairman Arafat, in an interview with the Saudi daily "Al-Jazira" on June 2, said the United States has to recognize the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. It should also recognize the Palestinian people's right to establish their independent state in accordance with pertinent U.N. resolutions.

Arafat repeated his refusal to accept U.N. resolution No. 242, which treats the Palestinians as mere refugees. When asked about the possibility of forming a Palestinian government in exile, chairman Arafat said that the Palestinian National Council considers this a premature step.

DUTCH TEAM TO MEET PLO

A Dutch parliamentary team arrived in Beirut on June 18 , to inspect their country's peacekeeping troops in the South and to carry out the first official Dutch-Palestinian contact ever.

The Team met with the chief of the Palestine Liberation Organization's political department, Farouk Kaddoumi. The meeting, the first ever between Dutch and PLO officials, was arranged by the U.N. in Beirut.

The team includes MPs Devries (head), Vanderbergh, Frinking, Bleauw, Brianhorst, Verbrought and the non-parliamentarian secretary of the Defense Committee, Mr. Hubert.

ARAFAT ATTENDS MEETING OF PLO HIGHER COUNCIL FOR EDUCATION, CULTURE AND SCIENCE

The PLO's Higher Council for Education, Culture and Science met on June 22 at the PLO Research Center in Beirut in the presence of Yasser Arafat, and Ahmad Sidqi al-Dajani, member of the PLO Executive Committee and Head of the Council, and Talal Naji, member of the Executive Committee and Head of its Cultural Department.

The meeting dealt with the educational and cultural conditions in the Palestinian student sectors, both inside and outside occupied Palestine.

PALESTINIAN ENGINEERS END CONFERENCE IN DAMASCUS

The second general conference of the General Union of Palestinian Engineers ended its meeting on June 22, with the issuing of a political communique and the election of the new Supreme Council and General Secretariat.

Chairman Yasser Arafat attended the final session of the conference and gave a speech in which he praised the prominent role of Palestinian engineers in promoting the march of the Palestinian Revolution. In his speech, Arafat condemned the genocide which is taking place in South Lebanon. He added that what is taking place in Lebanon and Palestine is directly related to the secret clauses of the Camp David agreements, and the peace treaty signed by Sadat and the Israeli enemy.

Chairman Arafat affirmed that the Palestinian Revolution, by relying on the struggle of our people, is capable of foiling the plots of the parties to the Camp David alliance.

In its final communique, the Union said that the signing of the Sadat-Zionist treaty is not the end of the road, for the Arab national forces and the Palestinian Revolution can confront the plot and limit its repercussions if they use their strength efficiently.

The communique called for Arab support of the Palestinian Revolution, for the escalation of military struggle in the occupied territories, for implementation of the Baghdad Summit resolutions, and for striking against American interests in the area. The communique also called for strengthening ties with the liberation movements, Islamic and other third world countries, as well as with the USSR and the Socialist Countries.

Arafat addresses Engineers Conference

MAJED ABU SHARAR TO PRAVDA

On June 25, the Soviet daily Pravda published an interview with Majed Abu Sharar, Secretary of Fateh Revolutionary Council and Head of the PLO Unified Information, who declared that the Camp David accords were aimed against the cause of peace and the interests of the Arab Palestinian people and the Arab people in general.

"We will continue our struggle against this conspiracy, and the Palestinian people are not alone in this struggle", Abu Sharar said. He added:

"The Soviet Union firmly supports the just struggle of the Arab people, and this stand was expressed once more by Leonid Brezhnev during his talks with U.S. President Carter, in Vienna."

Abu Sharar concluded: "We are fully determined not only to foil this new imperialist-Zionist-reactionary conspiracy, but to achieve a just and lasting solution to the Middle East conflict."

ABU IYYAD MEETS WITH PRESIDENT SARKIS

Abu lyyad, member of the Fateh Central Committee met with Lebanese President Elias Sarkis on June 25. The meeting dealt with various problems concerning the Palestinian Revolution and the PLO, as well as the current developments on the Lebanese, Arab and international levels.

NORTH LEBANON STRIKES FOR AYYOUBI

Ahmed Al-Ayyoubi

The North observed a day of strikes and mourning on June 15, in protest against the killing in Tripoli this week of Communist Party official Ahmed Al-Mir Al-Ayyoubi. Ayyoubi, 51, was shot by unidentified gunmen on June 13 near his home in the Tripoli port area. He died in the hospital on June 14.

The call to a strike was issued by a joint meeting of Palestinian and leftist groups in the North. It was backed by former President Suleiman Franjieh, who asked supporters in Zghorta, Koura and Batroun to join the protest.

Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat joined a number of Lebanese leftist leaders at Ayyoubi's funeral in Tripoli on June 15, while others offered their condolences at the Communist Party headquarters in Beirut.

In West Beirut's Arab University, a rally was held to honor the assassinated leader and a number of Palestinian and Lebanese leftist officials made political speeches.

Speaking at the rally, Salah Khalaf (Abu lyyad) said Ayyoubi's murder was another in the "Series of assassinations that Israeli agents are carrying out to liquidate the National Movement and the Palestinian resistance."

He called for the "revival of the nationalist fronts in every Arab country, to enable them to work against Israel." He also affirmed that the National Movement and the Palestinian resistance have "decided to join together to fight with all they have, and nobody can create obstacles or differences between them, despite all the conspiratorial attempts to do so."

Abu lyyad then said that alAyyoubi was assassinated because the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty reflects a new alliance in the region which aims to liquidate all revolutionary strongholds in the Arab region in general and particularly in Lebanon.

Arafat and Ayyoubi's widow mourn assassinated Communist leader

PORTUGAL-PLO

Portugal's strained relations with the Arab world eased in July with the announcement that the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) plans to open an official mission there before the end of the year.

In an interview with the Portuguese national news agency Anop, PLO spokesman Ahmed Sobh said the PLO's leaders, including Chairman Yasser Arafat, hoped the delegation could be in operation before the meeting of a world Palestinian conference scheduled in Lisbon at the beginning of November.