Thatcher Slightly Upbeat on PLO’s Mideast U.N. Overtures

WASHINGTON — British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher today offered a slightly more upbeat assessment of the PLO’s acceptance of two key U.N. resolutions on the Middle East than has the Reagan Administration, saying it is a “modest step forward” on which progress toward peace could be made.

At a news conference shortly before ending her two-day visit here, Thatcher was critical of the Palestinian organization’s declaration of a Palestinian state and naming of Jerusalem as its capital. She described it as a badly timed “retrograde step.” She also said the Palestinian declaration did not go far enough in repudiating terrorism.

“Obviously there are a lot of things in it that none of us like,” she said.

But she said that approval of U.N. resolutions 242 and 338 “is a modest step forward and something on which you could build.” The resolutions call for Israeli withdrawal from occupied territories and assert the right of all countries to live within secure borders.

The State Department and the White House have reacted coolly, describing the Palestinian resolution as “falling short” of what was required for official U.S. contacts with the PLO.

Thatcher said Western nations have been urging the PLO to move in the direction of accepting the U.N. resolutions for years.

“If you don’t encourage them when they’re doing something right, you won’t get further moves in the direction we’d like.”