PLO Decries Raids Against Civilians : Mideast: The announcement appears to be a condemnation of an abortive guerrilla attack against Israel last month.

The PLO today issued what appeared to be a condemnation of an abortive guerrilla raid against Israel last month, after the United States threatened to cut off dialogue with the PLO over the incident.

“The PLO position remains unchanged. We are against any military action that targets civilians, whatever form it may take,” said the statement by an unidentified PLO spokesman in Baghdad and distributed by the PLO’s official news agency, WAFA.

The Palestine Liberation Organization “is still committed . . . to the peace process on the basis of international legitimacy and Palestinian peace initiatives,” the spokesman said.

In Washington, the State Department said today it was disappointed that the PLO still has not explicitly condemned the raid itself.

The department implied that the latest statement failed to meet U.S. anti-terrorism conditions.

PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat has disassociated the PLO from the attack but fallen short of personally condemning it.

Sixteen guerrillas of the Palestine Liberation Front, one of the nine factions under the PLO umbrella, launched the May 30 attack on a Tel Aviv beach. Four of the guerrillas were killed in the shootout with Israeli troops and the rest were arrested. There were no casualties among the Israelis.

“We also condemn the Israeli crimes and massacres against our workers and children that increase day by day,” the PLO statement said.

The beach attack followed rioting that had raged in Israel and Israeli-occupied territories since May 20, when an Israeli civilian shot dead seven Arab laborers and wounded 11 near Tel Aviv.

Today’s announcement came after Sweden moved to prevent a possible break in the talks between the United States and the PLO, Arab diplomatic sources said in Baghdad.

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Sweden had been trying to persuade the PLO to respond to the U.S. demand that the PLO condemn the foiled raid.

President Bush said last week that he was considering breaking off the dialogue after Arafat failed to condemn outright the attack on the Israeli beach or fire the Palestine Liberation Front’s leader, Mohammed Abbas, from the PLO’s ruling Executive Committee.

Abbas, better known as Abul Abbas, was the mastermind of the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise liner in which a wheelchair-bound American was shot and his body pushed overboard.

Swedish Foreign Minister Sten Andersson sent an envoy, Mathias Mossberg, to Baghdad over the weekend with a message to Arafat. Mossberg met with Arafat three times since he arrived Saturday. Andersson helped initiate the U.S.-PLO dialogue in December, 1988.

In December, 1988, Arafat renounced terrorism and recognized Israel’s right to exist, opening the way for the U.S.-Palestinian dialogue to begin.

Since then there have been regular meetings between PLO officials and the U.S. ambassador in Tunis, Robert Pelletreau, the American official designated to carry out the dialogue.

Four U.S. senators last week urged a cutoff in the talks.