World Becoming Indifferent to Terrorism, Shultz Says

Secretary of State George P. Shultz said Tuesday that the international condemnation of his decision to prevent Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat from addressing the United Nations shows that the world is becoming indifferent to the scourge of terrorism.

“I am afraid that it’s too easy for people to forget what an important problem (terrorism) is and what a threat it is to civilized society,” Shultz said during ground-breaking ceremonies for a new National Foreign Affairs Training Center in suburban Virginia.

“I think it was the right decision,” he added. “I stick by it.”

Britain, Canada and most other Western nations joined the Arab world in denouncing Shultz’s decision, announced Saturday, to refuse to grant Arafat a visa that would allow him to visit New York this week for the annual U.N. debate on Palestine.

Shultz said he was sorry to hear of the reaction but not surprised.

“To some extent, the opposition suggests how important it was to decide what was decided and to make it so clear what the basis was--the basis being our concern about terrorism,” Shultz said.

Shultz’s remarks dramatized the importance he has assigned to terrorism in the nation’s diplomatic priorities. In a written statement announcing his decision, Shultz emphasized the PLO’s role in terrorism while ignoring the organization’s political standing as the symbol of Palestinian nationalism. With the important exceptions of the United States and Israel, the world community generally recognizes the PLO as the representative of Palestinians, including the 1.7 million who live in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Shultz’s rejection of Arafat’s visa application came about two weeks after the Palestine National Council, known as the PLO’s parliament in exile, adopted a resolution widely interpreted as an implicit acknowledgement of Israel’s right to exist. The resolution also renounced the use of terrorism as a political tactic.

The State Department said the declaration was a step in the right direction, although it was too ambiguous to meet Washington’s conditions for opening a U.S.-PLO dialogue.

Many Western European leaders, including British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, urged the United States to make a friendly gesture toward the PLO in response to the council’s resolution.

State Department spokesman Charles Redman spent most of Tuesday’s regular press briefing responding to questions about the Arafat visa. He echoed Shultz’s assessment that the criticism indicated a lack of sensitivity toward terrorism.

Redman also minimized a new statement by Bassam abu Sharif, Arafat’s regular press spokesman, that said the PLO is ready to fully accept Israel’s right to exist and to renounce the use of terrorism.

“It sounds to me like one more statement from a Palestinian spokesman,” Redman said. “It’s always a difficult thing determining what’s authoritative and what isn’t.”

At the United Nations, Arab diplomats called for quick action by the General Assembly to move the debate on Palestine, originally scheduled to start in New York on Thursday, to Geneva, where Arafat would be able to attend. If the measure is approved, the debate would take place in mid-December.

Clovis Maksoud, secretary general of the Arab League, said he hopes the Assembly will be able to vote on the proposed shift by Thursday. But Assembly President Dante Caputo of Argentina said the vote may be delayed until Monday.

Tuesday night, the Assembly’s legal committee voted 121-2 to urge the United States to “reconsider and reverse” its decision on Arafat. Only the United States and Israel voted against the resolution. The host country committee approved a similar measure Monday.

Times staff writer Don Shannon, at the United Nations, contributed to this report.