THE PRESIDENT'S DAILY BRIEF 9 JANUARY 1975

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: President's Daily Brief 1969-1977
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 0006007913
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 16
• Document Creation Date: August 14, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 24, 2016
• Publication Date: January 9, 1975

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The President's Daily Brief
January 9, 1975
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Exempt from general
declassification schedule of E.O. 11652
exemption category 5B01,12),(3)
declassified only on approval of
the Director of Central Intelligence
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FOR THE PRESIDENT ONLY
January 9, 1975
Table of Contents
USSR: Tass yesterday denounced Western speculation
about political instability in the Kremlin.
(Page 1)
Israel-PLO: An Israeli contact with a PLO official
has become a domestic issue. (Page 2)
Lebanon: President Franjiyah is seeking aid from
Arab leaders to strengthen his defenses against
Israel. (Page 4)
Cambodia: Government forces have regained the ini-
tiative around Phnom Penh, but the situation
along the lower Mekong River is still serious.
(Page 6)
"Oman:
(Page 7)
Portugal: Foreign Minister Soares will have to de-
cide soon whether to stay in the government or
resign and take command of the leftward-drifting
Socialist Party, which he nominally heads.
(Page 8)
Mexico: Mexico has decided not to seek full member-
ship in OPEC. (Page 9)
Note: USSR (Page 10)
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USSR
Tass yesterday denounced Western
speculation about political instability
in the Kremlin. The article was the
first public comment on the subject by
Soviet authorities. The US embassy in
Moscow, meanwhile, has learned that a
Soviet Foreign Ministry official told
the Italian embassy on Monday that Brezh-
nev had resumed his normal work schedule.
The Tass statement did not specifically address
the question of Brezhnev's health. A few hours ear-
lier, however, Tass noted that the General Secretary
?and his family yesterday attended the funeral of his
mother, who died Tuesday. That report did not men-
tion Brezhnev's presence at the burial, but a Tass
spokesman later told that Brezhnev
was there.
French and West German diplomats have reported
that during the past few mornings, Brezhnev's car
has been seen leaving the building where he main-
tains an apartment at his normal hour of departure
and traveling toward the Kremlin.
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ISRAEL-PLO
Press disclosure of an Israeli con-
tact with a PLO official a month ago has
caused heated comment within the ruling
Labor coalition as well as among the op-
position. The contact took place in
Prague at a preparatory meeting of the
World Peace Conference.
Naftali Feder, the political secretary of Mapam,
the leftist partner in Prime Minister Rabin's coa-
lition, has given the US embassy in Tel Aviv an ac-
count of his "informal" discussion. Feder said the
discussion was initiated in a hotel dining room by
the junior PLO delegate to the conference and lasted
an hour and a half. The PLO official suggested that:
--Israel and the PLO meet in Geneva to arrange
a modus vivendi, with neither side having to
agree to recognize the other in advance.
--Both sides could arrange some long-term ac-
commodation without either having to renounce
its ultimate objectives.
--Neither PLO chairman Arafat's vision of a
secular Palestinian state absorbing the pres-
ent state of Israel nor the Zionist dream of
settling all of the historic land of Israel
need be barriers to an accommodation.
--Palestinian demands that Israel return to
borders created by the UN partition in 1947
represent little more than a bargaining posi-
tion and need not be considered seriously.
Feder said he told the PLO representative that
Israel would not negotiate with terrorists and that,
in any case, there is no basis now for such talks.
The situation might change, he told the PLO member,
if the PLO made public the same statements that were
being made privately.
The Israeli government has refrained from any
public comment on Feder's meeting, perhaps because
it considers the fedayeen approach a trial balloon.
Feder, however, was sharply criticized at a meeting
Tuesday of the Labor Alignment's parliamentary caucus
for violating the government's policy against talks
with the PLO. The opposition parties may demand a
Knesset debate on the matter.
(continued)
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There has been no indication that the govern-
ment contemplates backing off from its firm refusal
to deal with the PLO. In several recent and widely
reported press interviews, Prime Minister Rabin has
emphasized his conviction that, if Israel held firm
in its refusal to deal with the PLO, the Arab states
would eventually accept the Israeli position that
the Palestinian problem can only be solved through
Israeli-Jordanian negotiations. .
Confirmation of the party official's meeting
follows recent reports--vigorously denied by the
Israeli Foreign Ministry--of official contacts with
the PLO in Europe. Despite the denial, the Feder
conversation may not have been an isolated incident.
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LEBANON
President Franjiyah has contacted
the leaders of Syria, Jordan, Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, and Libya for help in
strengthening Lebanon's defenses against
Israeli air and ground attacks. He
reportedly has received offers of as-
sistance.
Franjiyah is said to be proceeding with his
usual caution in considering how to respond to
these offers. His advisers, however, have been
urging him to endorse a course of action that
would move Lebanon a big step closer to Syria.
Their recommendations would place fedayeen in
southern Lebanon under command of the Syrian
army and allow Syrian forces to occupy strategic
positions in southern Lebanon and the area of
Mount Hermon.
Franjiyah would present two preconditions to
Syria before accepting such proposals:
--Syria would have to assist in controlling
and disarming Palestinian refugee camps near
Beirut.
--Syria would have to help in concentrating
and controlling fedayeen units in southern
Lebanon.
Franjiyah probably expects that Damascus will
be unwilling to go along, and he will be relieved
of the necessity of allowing Syrian troops into
Lebanon. The US embassy in Beirut reports that
Franjiyah turned aside an offer from Asad on
January 7 to station Syrian troops on Lebanese
soil. Asad did not press the offer.
Israeli Foreign Minister Allon told Ambassador
Keating Tuesday of Israel's apprehension about
recent developments in the Lebanese-Syrian-fedayeen
relationship. He said that the public warning is-
sued by Defense Minister Peres early this week was
designed to help Lebanon resist Syrian pressure
for stationing Syrian forces on Lebanese soil.
Allon expressed a fear that within a few months the
current buildup of Syrian-controlled Saiqa forces
in southern Lebanon will shift the balance decisively
against the Lebanese army.
(continued)
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In another move designed to thwart Israeli
strikes into Lebanon, 40 Soviet experts are reported
to have arrived in Lebanon from Syria within a few
days of the December 12 Israeli air strike on
Palestinian camps in Beirut. The Soviets may have
considered the time opportune for responding to
requests for additional military assistance that
were presented by PLO chief Yasir Arafat while he
was in Moscow during November.
The Soviets have in the past provided training
to fedayeen units only on Syrian territory or in the
USSR. Any movement of Soviet personnel to Lebanon
would be intended to curry favor with the Palestin-
ians and Syrians at a time when Soviet-Egyptian
relations are still uncertain.
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Cambodia: Lower Mekong
4
7th Division t
Pochentong Airport 15
6:10,1 Prey Veng
-#7", Government positions
under pressure
1111-Vy/Base
Neak Luong
30
Comm t gains
since Janu 1
nTakeo
SOUTH VIETNAM
Miles 10
%na
557086 1-75 CIA
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CAMBODIA
Government forces have regained the
initiative around Phnom Penh, but the
situation along the lower Mekong River
is still serious.
Units of the Cambodian army's 7th Division,
with the help of heavy air support, have relieved
all previously isolated positions on the capital's
northwestern defenses, and units of the army's 3rd
Division are doing well near Route 4 southwest of
Phnom Penh. Insurgent gunners remain within range
of Pochentong airport and the city proper, but shell-
ings have been sporadic and ineffective.
If the situation around Phnom Penh continues
to improve, military leaders may soon be able to
turn their attention to the Mekong River corridor
southeast of the capital. Government forces there
have been unable to regain any ground along Route
1, and some ten miles of highway paralleling the
Mekong upstream from the navy base at Neak Luong re-
main in communist hands.
Government positions on the east bank of the
river opposite Route I are under pressure, and in-
tercepted messages indicate that insurgent forces
are preparing for a major push against Neak Luong.
Government holdings south of Neak Luong have been
reduced to a few small outposts near the border with
South Vietnam.
Navy commanders apparently still plan to send
a supply convoy from South Vietnam upriver to Phnom
Penh late this week. At this time, rice and most
fuel stocks in the capital are sufficient to meet
civilian and military needs for a month, and enough
ammunition is on hand to support the fighting at
its present level, at least through the end of the
month.
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48
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PORTUGAL
Foreign Minister Mario Soares will
face some hard decisions when he returns
home this week from a visit to a number
of communist and neutral states. The
decisions concern the problems of the
Socialist Party, which he heads and which
is shifting sharply to the left. Soares'
first decision will be whether to resign
his cabinet post to devote full energy to
party matters.
The party's congress last month served to
sharpen its divisions and reveal its general dis-
organization. Soares reportedly promised his sup-
porters after the congress that he would resign
from the government this month. He has not, how-
ever, been showing much enthusiasm or ability for
party work, having become fond of the prestige and
influence that go with being foreign minister.
The congress failed to make decisions on many
key points in the party's program. The short-term
social and economic measures that were adopted by
the congress are more radical than those advocated
by any other major Portuguese party, including the
Communist. The US embassy in Lisbon reports that
attempts to get the congress to accept a more mod-
erate program were rejected overwhelmingly.
The delegates devoted most of their time to
electing a slate of party leaders. Two slates were
offered for the party's 151-member national commis-
sion. Although the slate led by Soares won, the
commission has a more leftist cast than the party
membership as a whole. This cast is likely to be
strengthened when the 20 seats allotted to youth
are filled at the Socialist Youth Congress later
this month.
A temporary secretariat has been named, and
by the time a permanent one is to be selected, the
Socialist youth representatives will be on the na-
tional commission, which selects the leadership.
Soares, however, probably will survive as secretary
general.
The congress has given the commission author-
ity to complete those portions of the party's pro-
gram that were not addressed at the congress. A
draft of the program calls for gradual Portuguese
withdrawal from all political and military blocs.
Some would like to write in provisions for estab-
lishing a common election front with the Communist
Party. Soares has taken a stand against both, but
he will be under intense pressure to radicalize
the party's program.
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MEXICO
Mexico has decided not to seek full
membership in the Organization of Petro-
leum Exporting Countries. The new Sec-
retary of National Properties stated
Saturday that Mexico should remain in
consultation with OPEC; a ministry spokes-
man added that Mexico will be an observer
at OPEC meetings but has no interest in
membership.
The statements followed by only one day the
surprise firing of the leftist Secretary of National
Properties who had vigorously supported Mexican
membership in OPEC. Pemex, the state oil monopoly,
had maintained that Mexico can derive the benefits
of high oil prices without joining the organization.
President Echeverria may have been influenced to
accept the Pemex argument by the fact that OPEC
membership would mean exclusion from preferential
treatment under the US Trade Reform Act.
Last week, Mexico criticized OPEC countries
for not using their wealth to improve the lot of
their citizens. This criticism of OPEC and emphasis,
on state ownership of the oil industry probably are
intended to deflect domestic charges that US
pressure--from the trade act--has deterred Mexico
from joining OPEC.
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NOTE
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Top Secret
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