Israel Readying Drive to Offset Any PLO Independence Declaration in Territories

The Israeli Foreign Ministry, indicating high-level concern over recent diplomatic gains by the Palestine Liberation Organization, has undertaken a multifaceted effort to control the fallout from a possible declaration of Palestinian independence.

Such a declaration, which leaders of the PLO have indicated would include at least an implicit acceptance of Israel’s right to exist, would be aimed at winning broad international support that might influence Israel to offer similar recognition for Palestinian political rights.

Government sources confirmed Friday that one of Israel’s most esteemed statesmen, Abba Eban, will leave within 10 days on a special Foreign Ministry mission to review the latest developments with leaders in several European capitals.

Eban, a former foreign minister and Israel’s first ambassador to the United Nations, has been quoted in the Israeli press as advocating a cautious reaction to what he has called “significant movement” within the PLO.

‘Strike a Balance’

“The proper course for Israel,” Eban said, “is to strike a balance between healthy skepticism and a total denial of any significance in PLO utterances.”

The Jerusalem Post reported Friday that the Foreign Ministry “has instructed Israeli ambassadors in Europe to canvass officials in their host governments in order to obtain a complete picture” of their anticipated reaction to any announcement of a provisional Palestinian government.

Official sources said they could not confirm the Post report, but they acknowledged that the ministry has established a top-level, five-man team to monitor developments involving the PLO. And they conceded that Israeli missions in at least four countries--Austria, Brazil, Italy and Turkey--are watching local reaction particularly closely.

The four countries are thought to be favorably enough inclined toward the PLO that they might recognize a provisional government. Palestinian sources here say that Australia, France and the Soviet Union also are prime targets of the PLO diplomatic initiative.

No P.R. Gimmick

“We are taking it very seriously,” a senior Israeli official said Friday of the PLO initiative. “It is not just a public relations trick.”

Underground leaders of the 8 1/2-month-old Arab uprising in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip have called for a declaration of independence as a way of translating what they see as the Palestinians’ new international standing into more permanent political gains.

PLO leaders, among them Basam abu Sharif, a key aide to PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, have publicly advocated a diplomatic offensive, and the momentum increased after Jordan’s King Hussein announced his disengagement from the occupied territories in order not to be a hindrance to creation of a Palestinian state there.

The PLO has since announced that it will consider a declaration of independence and formation of a provisional government at a meeting this fall of the Palestine National Council, which is sometimes referred to as the Palestinian parliament in exile.

May Announce Next Month

There are rumors that Arafat might announce such a step next month in a speech he is scheduled to deliver before the European Parliament at Strasbourg.

Publicly, Israeli officials have tended to regard the idea with scorn. Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, head of the rightist Likud Bloc, described it as crazy and dangerous and vowed that Jerusalem will never permit the creation of an independent Palestinian state in the occupied territories.

Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin pledged to use “an iron fist” to crush any such move and took steps to outlaw the “popular committees” established in Palestinian towns, villages and refugee camps as a rudimentary system of self-rule.

Union Offices Closed

On Friday, Israeli security forces ordered the headquarters of several professional Palestinian unions in suburban Jerusalem closed for a year.

The unions, which were linked to the Jordanian government, certify doctors, dentists, pharmacists, agronomists, engineers, lawyers and veterinarians on the West Bank and set professional standards for them. Palestinian sources acknowledge that the unions have been strongholds of nationalist sentiment, while the Israeli authorities charged that their headquarters have been used to incite anti-government protests.