U.S. Moves Swiftly to Limit Fallout in Hijack Arrests

As the U.S. Navy’s capture of an Egyptian jet carrying four Palestinian hijackers set off ripples of protest in the Arab world Friday, President Reagan and other officials moved quickly to limit the diplomatic fallout--and braced for terrorist reprisals some fear may follow.

The Administration’s efforts at damage control illustrated the sobering fact that military responses to terrorism are not cost free. Thursday’s interception raised new questions about the safety of six Americans still held hostage in Beirut, stirred fears that terrorists may attempt to seize other U.S. citizens traveling or living abroad and raised fresh obstacles on the already rocky landscape of Mideast diplomacy.

But Administration officials said that they weighed the negative impact the operation would have--especially in the wake of Reagan’s voiced approval of Israel’s raid last week against the Palestine Liberation Organization headquarters in Tunis--and decided that the chance to bring terrorists to justice clearly outweighed the problems.

Mild Backlash

And, they said, the immediate backlash in the Middle East has actually been milder than expected.

“It could have been worse,” a State Department official said. “So far, we don’t think we’ve seen major damage. But it may be too soon to tell.”

Several officials said they fear that Palestinian terrorists will attempt to seize American or Italian hostages in the coming weeks in hopes of forcing Italy to release the four hijackers of the Italian luxury liner Achille Lauro being held under tight security at an undisclosed location.

They said no specific message has gone to U.S. embassies in the area to increase security measures, “but they know enough to do that even in the absence of instructions,” said one official.

President Reagan, asked at his news conference Friday whether the Navy action increased the danger to Americans in the Middle East, observed: “I don’t think that there is any increase that could be made. I think that Americans . . . are targets of continued terrorism.”

Pressure on Italy Feared

A senior Administration official said: “We can fear some terrorist pressure on Italy to give up the four hijackers. But we can also hope that the incident and the capture will scare off future hijackers.”

In the Middle East, U.S. diplomats explained the reasons for the Navy action to Arab leaders and met with largely measured protests from moderate regimes.

The PLO denounced the incident as an “act of piracy,” and the faction to which the hijackers apparently belong warned that the United States “will pay dearly” if the four captured hijackers are harmed.

But Egypt, whose airliner was intercepted, issued a statement that it was “surprised and profoundly saddened”--a remarkably mild reaction from a country where passionate political discourse is the norm.

Hassan Cancels Visit

King Hassan of Morocco, a longtime American ally, called off a scheduled visit to New York and Washington because of the “international situation”--but leveled no specific complaints.

And the Soviet Union even joined Israel and Western nations in supporting the operation. Moscow issued a general complaint about U.S. policy but the official Soviet news agency Tass said nonetheless that “the Americans’ anger at the hijackers’ crime aboard a cruise liner is understandable and just.”

Reagan and aides passed up opportunities to crow about the Navy’s exploit; White House spokesman Larry Speakes repeatedly refused reporters’ entreaties to describe the President’s reaction to news of the successful seizure, except to say that he viewed it “as a serious matter.”

Instead, Reagan went out of his way to stress his commitment to friendly relations with Egypt, deliberately muting the criticism Administration officials had expressed Thursday when the Egyptian government decided to turn the hijackers over to the PLO.

“I . . . want to note my gratitude that the government of Egypt was able to end the crisis without additional loss of life, although I disagreed with their disposition of the terrorists,” Reagan said, emphasizing the positive.

‘Too Much at Stake’

“There is too much at stake with regard to peace in the Middle East for us to let a single incident of one kind or a disagreement of this kind color that relationship,” he said.

State Department officials, speaking on condition that they not be identified, even expressed understanding for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s motivation in trying to send the hijackers to PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. “It would show that Arafat was a moderate if he punished them as he had said he would,” said one.

Egypt is vital to the United States, not only because it is the only Arab country that has signed a peace treaty with Israel, but also because it has provided the U.S. military with important facilities and reportedly has provided intelligence and other cooperation to U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.