Relations With PLO Worsen as Jordan Closes 25 Fatah Offices

Jordan’s turbulent relationship with the Palestine Liberation Organization reached a new low Monday when the government ordered the closure of offices belonging to Fatah, the mainstream guerrilla group led by Yasser Arafat.

A government statement said the closing was in response to unwarranted criticism by Fatah of Jordan’s “clear-cut policy toward the Palestinian cause.”

Relations between the Jordanians and the PLO have been sour since Feb. 19, when Jordan’s King Hussein announced that he was ending a yearlong quest to achieve a Middle East peace settlement in concert with the PLO because, he implied, he could not get the PLO to keep its word.

In recent months, at least eight officials of Fatah, the largest and most influential of the myriad guerrilla groups in the PLO, were reported to have left the country at the request of Jordanian officials. A liaison office between the PLO and the Jordanian intelligence organization was closed and distribution of PLO journals has been curtailed.

About 25 Offices Closed

Jordanian officials said Monday night that they were closing about 25 Fatah offices in Amman and other Jordanian cities, a figure that appeared to include even minor facilities.

They said, however, that other PLO offices, which are scattered throughout the city, would be allowed to remain open. Most of the offices were transferred here from Beirut after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982.

Khalil Wazir, the top Fatah official in Jordan, told reporters that he believes the office closures will not result in any more Fatah officials being expelled from the country.

Jordanian officials said Wazir, the deputy military commander of the PLO, will be allowed to remain in Amman as a private citizen. Israeli officials have accused Wazir, who is also known as Abu Jihad, of coordinating military strategy against Israeli targets from his base in Amman.

The order also closes the offices of Hani Hassan, one of Arafat’s closest advisers, who along with his brother, Khaled Hassan, is regarded as the leading moderate voice in the guerrilla organization.

Approve Challenge to Arafat

While cracking down on Fatah in Jordan, Jordanian officials have watched approvingly as a former Arafat aide named Atallah Atallah has mounted a campaign against Arafat’s leadership of the PLO.

Atallah, better known as Abul Zaim, is a former military intelligence chief of Fatah. He announced to reporters last month that a meeting of Fatah officials had stripped Arafat and Wazir of their positions in the group. Arafat and his followers said they had removed Atallah from his posts.

The Jordanian announcement took pains to reiterate that Jordan still regards the PLO as the “sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.” But, it said, criticism by Fatah of Jordan’s position on the Palestinian question “contravenes the spirit of cooperation and understanding which Jordan has been anxious to maintain despite the dispute with the leadership of the PLO.”