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-RDP90-00552R000404030073-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 31, 2010
• Sequence Number: 73
• Publication Date: February 19, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/31 :CIA-RDP90-005528000404030073-2
OA PAGE
1QEi~T YORK TIMES
19 February 1982+
U.S. Re ortedl ~-Iad Contact
.P Y
~-
~Tith the P.L.O. for 9 Months
SyBERNARD GWERTZMAN
Sp~d~l tom Iiev Yoet Tlmr
WASHII~TGTON, Feb. 18 -For a ~ ~ Cleadestine Coatads
.period of nine months, the Reagan Ad-' ~ Clandestine Central Intellieence
minictrntaOn COndllCted Sei:ret discus- j; AgCpCy CO'i1t8CL5 ye ma1nL81ifed
alone tttrniigh an intermediary with j orf-secun'T'~inte c yam,
Yssir Arafat, the head of the'Palestine ~~ o ~ sal .But any effort to discuss
Liberation Organization, according to y ways o bringing about recognition of
American participaau is the effort.
. 'T'hey said that the purpose of the
talks was ooasistent with past attempts
' by the Carter Administratian to per-
' evade the Palestinian leaders to accept
the Americas otter of r~eoognition of
their organization in return for accept-
; ance by the P.~..O. of Israel's right to
j adst. After the Israeli .invasion of
Lebanon is June 1982, the .talks were
bmkea off by the P.L.O. with ao certain
sign that they were succeeding.
'The intermediary was John Edwin
Mroz, a spedalist on Middle Eastern
and Soviet affairs, who heads a New
the Liberation Organization or any
issue imrolving 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-
isas to meet the American ooaditians.
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
.Asked why he did it, he said, "If I could
get Arab recognition of Israel, there's j
nothing I could do that would be more
important in my late." ~
then said it believed that the resolution
was inadequate, .the United States
would regard that as sufScieat for
United States recognition.
But Mr. Arafat's gt+aip, arguing that
it was being given ditfer~ent signals
from different intermediaries, refused
to meet those terms.
Carta Effort Continued '
Essentially, the Reagan Administra-
tion, working through Mr. Mrvz, was
continuing the Carter effort.
Mr. Mroz, in an interview, confirmed ;
that he served as the intermediary.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/31 :CIA-RDP90-005528000404030073-2