Craxi Forces Win Vote of Confidence : PLO’s Right to Use Arms in Struggle With Israel Defended

Prime Minister Bettino Craxi’s rebuilt coalition government won a confidence vote today after a defiant speech in which Craxi recognized the right of the Palestine Liberation Organization to use armed struggle to recover Israeli-occupied territory.

“On the question of armed struggle (by the PLO), I do not contest that right and its legitimacy,” Craxi told the Chamber of Deputies in a speech justifying his policy in the Middle East and his handling of the Achille Lauro hijacking.

The statement brought shouts of protest in the lower house from members of the small Republican Party, which had criticized Craxi’s handling of the hijacking and forced him to tender his resignation Oct. 17 by withdrawing from the five-party coalition.

Parties Stay Together

But the coalition parties stuck together on the confidence vote, giving the government a 347-238 victory with one abstention in the 630-seat Chamber of Deputies. The powerful Communist Party delivered most of the negative votes.

The government must win a similar confidence test in the Senate before its right to continue in office is finally confirmed. But the Senate vote, expected late Friday, is regarded as a certain victory in view of the strong coalition lineup in the upper house.

In his speech concluding a three-day debate in the Chamber of Deputies, Craxi reiterated his reasons for supporting the PLO as the valid representative of the Palestinians in any peace negotiations with Israel.

‘Challenging History’

In reference to the PLO’s use of armed conflict in its attempt to recover territory seized by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, Craxi said: “To dispute the recourse to arms by a movement that seeks to liberate its country would mean to challenge the course of history.

“On the question of armed struggle, I do not contest that right and its legitimacy.”

When Republican Giorgio la Malfa interrupted to say “We contest it,” Craxi replied that Italian patriot Giuseppe Mazzini “conceived and planned political assassinations” while struggling for Italian unity in the 19th Century.