U.S. REPORTEDLY HAD CONTACT WITH THE P.L.O. FOR 9 MONTHS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000100180004-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 29, 2010
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: February 19, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/29: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100180004-9
ARTICLE APP D
ON PAGE
NEW YORK TIMES
19 February 1981+
U. S. Reportedly Had Contact
With the P.L.O. for 9 Months
By BERNARD GWERTZMAN
Sp.da1tD b.N.wYortTfmN
WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 - For a Clandestine Contacts
period of nine months, the Reagan Ad-.;. Clandestine Central Intellieence
ministration conducted secret discus- Agency contacts have been maintained
sions through an intermediary withl for securi and intelligence
Yasir Arafat. the head of the'Palestine officials said. But any effort to discuss
Liberation Organization, according to
American participants in the effort.
They said that the purpose of the
talks was consistent with past attempts
by the Carter Administration to per-
' suade the Palestinian leaders to accept
the American offer of recognition of
their organization in return for accept-
ance by the P....O. of Israel's right to
exist. After the Israeli invasion of
Lebanon in June 1982, the talks were
broken off by the P.L.O. with no certain
sign that they were succeeding.
The intermediary was John Edwin
Mroz, a specialist on Middle Eastern
and Soviet affairs, who heads a New
York-based foundation.
Mr. Mroz, in an interview, confirmed ;
that he served as the intermediary.
Asked why he did it, he said, "If I could
get Arab recognition of Israel, there's
nothing I could do that would be more
important in my life."-
ways oUbringing about recognition of
the Liberation organization or any
issue involving Arab-Israeli matters
has had to be conducted through inter-
mediaries.
Under the Carter Administration,
Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance
made a vigorous effort, working
through the Saudis, to get the Palestin-
ians to meet the American conditions.
The P.L.O. had always objected to ac-
cepting Resolution 242 because that
1967 document contains no reference to
the Palestinian question, except by im-
plication as "the refugee problem."
-President Carter said that if the
P.L.O. accepted Resolution 242, and
then said it believed that the resolution
was inadequate, the United States
would regard that as sufficient for
United States recognition.
But Mr. Arafat's group, arguing that
it was being given different signals
from different intermediaries, refused
to meet those terms.
Carter Effort Continued'
Essentially, the Reagan Administra-
tion, working through Mr. Mroz, was
continuing the Carter effort.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/06/29: CIA-RDP90-00552R000100180004-9