Some of Washington’s Allies Join Critics of Move : Plan to Shut PLO Office Assailed at U.N.

A broad range of nations, including several of Washington’s chief allies, on Tuesday harshly criticized a U.S. decision to close the Palestine Liberation Organization’s office in New York.

The critics charged that the congressionally directed move casts doubt on Washington’s credibility as a mediator in the Mideast peace process and jeopardizes the integrity of the United Nations.

As the denunciations mounted, some lawmakers indicated that Congress may back away from legislation, adopted last October, that directs the Justice Department to close the PLO office. That office houses the PLO’s permanent observer group to the United Nations, which has given the PLO official status as a non-voting member since 1974.

Establishes a Precedent

By implementing the congressional measure, signed by President Reagan last month, the United States in effect would block the PLO’s involvement in the United Nations. It also would establish a precedent for U.S. influence over the organization that several delegations warned could paralyze the work of the world body.

Washington “must be more respectful of the need for the U.N. to be insulated from the corrosive legislative tantrums that impinge on the United States’ . . . legal obligations as a host country of the United Nations,” declared Ambassador Clovis Maksoud, the Arab League’s permanent U.N. observer.

“This is not a PLO-versus-U.S. issue, nor an Arab-versus-U.S. issue,” Maksoud added. “This is a United Nations-versus-United States issue.”

The controversy has divided the Reagan Administration, which is under orders to close the PLO office by March 21.

The State Department’s legal adviser, Abraham D. Sofaer, said last month that the legislation is illegal because it contravenes treaty obligations that the United States accepted when it agreed to host the U.N. headquarters. The 1947 accord commits the United States to allow any U.N. member to operate freely in New York.

However, congressional and Administration sources say the congressional measure has strong backing in the U.S. Justice Department, where the United Nations is widely viewed as an anti-American forum funded largely with U.S. taxpayers’ dollars.

The Justice Department is charged with implementing the congressional directive. However, Department officials said Atty. Gen. Edwin Meese III will not do so until Secretary of State George P. Shultz returns from his current trip abroad. Shultz has visited the Mideast and London in an effort to restart the stalled Mideast peace process and define the PLO’s role in negotiations on the future of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Vote Expected Today

In an effort to head off the closing of the PLO office, the U.N. General Assembly is expected to vote today to urge the establishment of a special U.N. team to arbitrate the dispute between Washington and the United Nations.

During the specially convened session of the General Assembly that began Monday, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Austria and Japan called for the arbitration process to begin.

The positions taken by the group of U.S. allies was a blow to Washington, which has resisted the United Nations’ push to begin arbitration immediately. In meeting with U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, the Justice Department has argued that Washington has taken no action yet that justifies such a measure.

Could Go to World Court

If the U.N. arbitration procedure fails to resolve the dispute, the issue could go before the International Court of Justice, which issues binding but essentially unenforceable judgments to United Nations members.

That step may become unnecessary, however, if Congress adopts a measure now being circulated by Michigan Democrat George W. Crockett Jr., a leading member of the Democratic-controlled House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Crockett, whose district has one of the largest Arab-American communities, argues that the forced closure of PLO offices in the United States illegally contravenes U.S. treaty obligations and denies Americans who wish to assist the PLO their right of free speech. He plans to introduce a bill repealing the earlier measure late this week.