Hijack Dispute Puts Craxi Trip to U.S. in Doubt

Caretaker Prime Minister Bettino Craxi will almost certainly cancel a trip to the United States next week following the U.S.-Italian diplomatic row over Craxi’s handling of the Achille Lauro hijacking, an Italian news agency said today.

Egypt, meanwhile, was reported today to have decided to cancel its joint military exercises with the United States in December in direct retaliation for the U.S. interception of an Egyptian airliner carrying the four Palestinians who hijacked the ship and killed an American hostage.

The newspaper Al Ittihad of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, said a U.S. military delegation that was in Cairo to prepare for the joint exercises had already gone home. There was no official confirmation of the report.

U.N. Speech Scheduled

Craxi, who remains head of a caretaker government following his resignation Thursday, had been scheduled to go to New York to address the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday and attend a meeting of heads of the seven most industrialized states called by President Reagan. France has already declined the invitation.

Craxi’s resignation was forced when one of the five parties in his governing coalition, the pro-U.S. Republican Party of Defense Minister Giovanni Spadolini, withdrew in protest of his handling of the Achille Lauro hijacking.

Craxi had allowed Palestinian official Abul Abbas to fly to Yugoslavia last Saturday despite U.S. charges that Abbas masterminded the Oct. 7 Achille Lauro hijacking.

The whereabouts of Abbas, 38, were unknown today. PLO officials in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, said Thursday he was probably in Baghdad, Iraq, for a PLO meeting with Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasser Arafat.

Consultations Started

President Francesco Cossiga started the traditional round of consultations with political leaders Friday before naming a candidate to try to form a new government.

In a well-worn procedure in a country that has had 44 governments since World War II, Cossiga started by discussing the situation with three former heads of state and the Speakers of the Senate and Chamber of Deputies in his Quirinal palace office.

On Saturday, Cossiga will continue his consultations in separate meetings with all the parties represented in Parliament.