Words Won’t Rehabilitate the PLO

As Palestinian frustration gives way to optimism following the U.S. decision to talk with the Palestine Liberation Organization, Jews in America and throughout the world continue to experience the range of emotions familiar to those personally connected to the Israel-Arab conflict.

Should the words spoken by Yasser Arafat in Geneva last week come to be realized by action, American Jews might begin to reassess their longstanding attitude toward a man who has led a 24-year campaign of violence against their people. For now, however, there should be no mistake that anxiety overrides hope.

Memory is a fundamental part of the Jewish psyche. And one need not look too far into the past to see that Arafat has made a common practice of masking rejectionist PLO goals with moderate rhetoric.

Events as recent as those that transpired last June at the Arab summit in Algiers provide a striking example of the PLO double talk that continues to taint the current atmosphere. During the summit, an unsigned English-language document authored by Bassam abu Sharif, Arafat’s personal press spokesman, was circulated among Western journalists. In it, Abu Sharif noted Israel’s right to exist and declared a desire on the part of Palestinians to live in peaceful coexistence with the Jewish state.

While basking in the subsequent praise from the international community, Arafat refused to endorse or even comment publicly on the document. Then one week before the November Palestine National Council meeting in Algiers, the PLO chairman enunciated his view on the document in the clearest of terms: The PLO is “opposed to a Zionist state,” he said; “Zionism is a racist movement” and “we don’t want a racist state in this area.”

Is it any wonder, then, that the majority of American Jews have responded to Arafat’s most recent pronouncement with deep apprehension?

Most American Jews and other supporters of Israel will not shed their doubts easily about an organization whose past excesses have terrorized much of the world. The PLO has long focused on Washington and the American public in an effort to win the trust and support that it considers essential to its cause. Now, as the organization begins its pursuit of American minds with increased vigor, the United States must make certain that mere rhetoric not be mistaken for words of moderation and that PLO gestures are accompanied by tangible moves toward peace.

To start, Washington must insist that for the PLO to qualify as a party to negotiations, it must renounce its covenant, which calls for Israel’s dissolution. Israel should not be expected to negotiate its fate with an organization bent on its destruction.

Second, the PLO should be encouraged in the strongest of terms to order an end to the violence that it has sanctioned and abetted at Israel’s doorstep. To prove his intentions of “peaceful coexistence” with Israel, Arafat must be willing to instill that notion in the collective consciousness of his people.

Third, the U.S. government must proceed with caution and refrain from pressuring Israel to deal with the PLO. To do otherwise would create a perception of an isolated and weakened Israel--a perception certain to be dangerously exploited by the PLO.

For American Jews and others who remain skeptical about PLO intentions, the key to that organization’s acceptance lies in the PLO itself. It is not enough, either psychologically or practically, for the PLO chairman to utter the phrases prescribed by Washington. Those words must be bound by deeds.

When Anwar Sadat sought peace with Israel in 1978, he backed his words with action. By doing so, he initiated a breakthrough for peace and gained the respect of all Americans. For the U.S.-PLO dialogue to advance the peace process and win the confidence of American Jews, Yasser Arafat must do no less.