Israel Bars Arab Delegation’s Jordan Trip

The Israeli authorities have barred a delegation of prominent West Bank Palestinians from traveling to Jordan to discuss new Middle East peace proposals with Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat, members of the proposed delegation and Israeli military sources said Sunday.

The delegation had intended to propose conditional PLO acceptance of key U.N. resolutions recognizing Israel’s right to exist in exchange for “international acceptance of our right to self-determination,” Hanna Siniora, editor of the East Jerusalem newspaper Al Fajr and spokesman of the group, said in an interview.

The plan, first reported by the Israeli media last week, was seen here as an effort by West Bank notables to moderate the PLO and thereby improve its chances of playing a role in peace talks with Israel.

Jordan’s King Hussein has urged that negotiations be held between Israel and a joint Jordanian-Palestinian delegation, and the United States is acting as an intermediary to try to gain Israeli agreement on terms for such talks.

A PLO role in any negotiations is a sticking point, however, since Hussein considers that its participation is essential, while Israel sees Arafat’s organization as purely a terrorist group and flatly refuses to deal with it.

“We wanted to go and consult with the chairman (Arafat) and find out his position on the two famous resolutions,” Siniora said, referring to U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338. The United States, which also refuses to deal with the PLO, has made any change in that policy conditional in part on Arafat’s acceptance of the U.N. documents.

Place for the PLO

Siniora said that the West Bank delegation wanted to propose “conditional acceptance of 242 and 338 in return for an international acceptance of our right to self-determination and at the same time a place for the PLO in (an) international (peace) conference.”

The group had hoped to travel to Amman on Sunday or today, but Siniora said he was summoned by West Bank military authorities Saturday and told “no delegation.”

“They told me if I want to go as a person, the bridge (to Jordan) is open, but not as a delegation,” he said.

Most of the 13 notables named by Siniora as being involved in the initiative normally need no special permission to cross into Jordan, a spokesman for the occupation authorities said. But he added, “We cannot approve of these people to go out to Jordan after they say publicly that they intend to meet there with Arafat and other leaders of the PLO in order to consult with them.”

The spokesman explained that “the policy of Israel forbids making contacts with hostile elements, including the PLO.” Politically, he admitted, Israeli authorities are concerned that permitting such a mission might be seen as tacit recognition of the PLO and would only strengthen Arafat at a time when Israel seems to be making gains in its longstanding effort to undermine his legitimacy as a spokesman for the Palestinian people.

Siniora and others of the 13 West Bank notables have met with Arafat on past, private trips to Amman.