But Others Doubt Palestinians Would Accept Conditions for U.S. Talks : Reagan, Bush See Progress in PLO’s Softened Position

President Reagan and President-elect George Bush said Monday that a formal acknowledgment by the Palestine Liberation Organization of Israel’s right to exist would mark progress toward a Middle East settlement, but other U.S. officials expressed skepticism that the PLO will go far enough to win a seat at any future peace conference.

In separate comments to reporters, Reagan and Bush said they were encouraged by reports that the PLO’s “parliament in exile,” meeting in Algiers, would endorse U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which recognizes the right of all countries in the region, including Israel, to live in peace within secure and recognized borders. They spoke before news reports from Algiers that the Palestine National Council had endorsed the U.N. resolution.

Reagan, answering questions during an Oval Office photo session with Soviet human rights campaigner Andrei D. Sakharov, said: “I only know . . . apparently that there has been an indication that they are willing to abide by 242, and I hope it’s true because then that would mean some progress, although I think there are many problems yet to be solved.”

Bush, standing on the beach in Gulf Stream, Fla., said, “If the PLO leaders have definitively stated their support for 242, that is very, very good.”

But Bush added a note of caution: “I’m just not sure that is exactly what has happened. But it would be a very important step if they’ve done that--and if there is, certainly if there is unanimity, and you don’t have divisive factions that resist that--it would be very good.”

Other Administration officials were even less optimistic. They said it was doubtful that the PLO would accept unequivocally the American conditions for opening a U.S.-Palestinian dialogue.

Under a 15-year-old formula first enunciated by then-Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, the United States will have no relationship with the PLO unless that organization renounces violence and terrorism as political tactics and explicitly acknowledges Israel’s right to exist.

“If they say the right things very explicitly, that is one thing, but who knows what they will say?” one official said. He said that Washington’s minimum requirement for any sort of relationship with the PLO is “clear, explicit, unambiguous recognition of 242,” the resolution adopted by the Security Council after the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. The resolution affirms the right of all nations in the region to live in peace and also calls for Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, designated Monday to form a new government after this month’s close general election, has made it clear that he will never deal with the PLO, no matter what it says or does.

Because of the firm Israeli stand, the U.S. government would come under severe pressure if it were to begin talks with the PLO. U.S. officials said earlier that Washington would have to respond if the PLO met the Kissinger terms to the letter. But they said it is unlikely that the United States would react favorably to anything less.

“I can assure you that our position has not changed on this,” State Department spokeswoman Phyllis Oakley said Monday in reference to the U.S. conditions.

Oakley also criticized the PLO for allowing Abul Abbas, accused of masterminding the terrorist seizure of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro and the murder of American tourist Leon Klinghoffer, to continue to serve on the organization’s executive committee.

“We find it extraordinary that a convicted murderer would do that,” she said.

Meanwhile, Yehoshafat Harkabi, Israel’s former chief of military intelligence, urged the United States and the American Jewish community to welcome any conciliatory gestures by the PLO.

Harkabi, talking to reporters in Washington, said, “Once there is a small change on the Arab side, we have to welcome it.”

But Harkabi, a frequent critic of the present Israeli government, said it is unlikely that the PLO will make any important peace overture because its leaders realize that it would not do them much good.

“The Palestinians correctly take Shamir’s positions as more binding than others,” he said. “They take very seriously his declaration that no matter what they do, he won’t budge.”

Times staff writers Lee May and Cathleen Decker contributed to this story.