Hussein Calls on Palestinians to Replace PLO Leaders

AMMAN, Jordan — King Hussein of Jordan has accused the leaders of the Palestine Liberation Organization of having lost credibility, and he called on the Palestinian people to replace them.

Hussein’s remarks, made to a Kuwaiti newspaper, went considerably further in attacking the PLO leaders than he went in a televised speech to the nation Feb. 19.

His call for a new Palestinian leadership will undoubtedly please both the United States and Israel, which have always viewed the prospect of negotiations involving the PLO with little enthusiasm. Syria, the other major player in the Middle East, also is eager to see the PLO in new hands.

“Palestinians inside and outside the occupied territories will have to choose another leadership or reconsider the entire system of their political representation,” Hussein told the As Siyassah newspaper, which published the interview Saturday.

Hussein said the PLO leadership is interested “more in ruling than in regaining the territory” occupied by Israel. He vowed to stand by a leadership “that represents the people and appreciates the cause responsibly,” which appeared to be an invitation to a rival group to attempt to wrest power from Arafat.

Hussein has never before suggested that the leadership of the PLO, symbolized by its chairman, Yasser Arafat, be replaced. He has grown increasingly hard-line in his comments since his announcement last month that he would no longer pursue the peace process in partnership with the PLO.

The Jordanian monarch announced his rupture with the PLO after the breakdown of lengthy negotiations with the United States aimed at organizing an international conference on the Middle East.

The talks foundered over PLO demands that the Reagan Administration recognize a Palestinian right of “self-determination” in exchange for PLO recognition of U.N. Security Council resolutions that implicitly recognize Israel.