WORLD : PLO Seeks Jewish Transit Camps
The Palestine Liberation Organization said today that it wants the Soviet Union to reintroduce transit camps in Europe for Jewish emigrants.
The Soviet Union should not agree to direct flights from Moscow to Israel and should seek firm guarantees from Israel that Jewish emigrants will not settle in the West Bank and Gaza, the PLO said.
Suleiman Najab, a member of the PLO executive committee, said at a news conference that the PLO will put the demands to Soviet envoy Gennady Tarasov, who was to arrive in Tunis later today for talks on the exodus of Soviet Jews to Israel.
Israel expects 50,000 to 100,000 Soviet Jews to arrive this year and up to 750,000 over the next five to six years.
The exodus has incensed Arabs and Palestinians, who fear that the influx of the Soviet Jews will change the population balance in the occupied territories.
The PLO will ask Tarasov to put more pressure on Washington to let more of the emigrants settle in the United States, Najab said. The Arabs say Washington has compounded the Soviet emigration problem by restricting its intake to 50,000 a year. Israel is the only country willing to take the rest.
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