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I

PLO

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counter-initiative, is certain
to strain the patience of even
Israel's most loyal friends.
By placing himself in the
diplomatic driving seat and
casting Israel in the role of
spoiler, he has created a
potentially serious rift
between Jerusalem and its
important trading partners in
the European Community,
most of whom see much merit
in the PLO leader's peace
proposals.
Moreover, Arafat must have
come perilously close to
meeting the demands of the
United States, and while
observers believe that it may
be too late for the Reagan
administration to pick up the
initiative, the incoming Bush
administration will find
much to commend it.
There are, to be sure,
serious shortcomings with
Arafat's position — his de-
mand that Palestinians have
the right to return to their
homes inside Israel; his
endorsement of violence as a
means of resisting the occu-
pation in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip and his demand
that "Arab Jerusalem" form

The PNC Declaration:
Something For Everyone

MITCHELL BARD

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the capital of his future
Palestinian state. Neverthe-
less, the conciliatory tone of
Arafat's speech would have
been unthinkable even a few
months ago.
In clear, unequivocal lan-
guage, he said: "The PLO will
seek a comprehensive settle-
ment among the parties con-
cerned in the Arab-Israeli
conflict, including the State of
Palestine, Israel and other
neighbors, within the frame-
work of the international
conference for peace in the
Middle East on the basis of
Resolutions 242 and 338:'
He also made the important
point: "Our people . . . does
not seek its freedom at the ex-
pense of anyone else's
freedom, nor does it want a
destiny which negates the
destiny of another people:'
Israel has asserted that
Arafat's speech was cloaked
in double-talk and ambiguity.
The unpalatable view from
Geneva, however, is that
Arafat has neatly switched
roles with Israel, which is not
being regarded, fairly or not,
as the "rejectionist" of the
region. 0

H

eadlines across the
country announced
the "momentous"
declarations of the Palestine
National Congress in Algiers
a few weeks ago. Commen-
tators debated the meaning of
these resolutions and their
implications, but few people
bothered to read what the
members of the PNC them-
selves said to their fellow
Arabs out of earshot of
Western reporters. Fewer still
bothered to report the reac-
tion of the PLO's opponents,
some of whom called for a
three-day mourning period to
protest Yassir Arafat's
"treason." This is just the
latest example of the
distorted picture of Middle
East politics that Americans
receive from the media.
If one reads the Arab press,
it becomes clear that the
American media presents, at
best, selective coverage of the
Middle East. Several Ameri-
can correspondents said they
were duped in Algiers, rely-
ing on the assurance of Pales-
tinian spokesmen that the
declaration was a clear-cut
acceptance of Israel and re-
nunciation of terrorism. No
English translations of the

actual document were made
available until after the jour-
nalists proclaimed the
"breakthrough" statement
they had not seen.
Israel, paradoxically, is a
victim of its democracy. Since
Western access to the Arab
world is limited, reporters
necessarily concentrate on
the country where news is
most available. On the other
hand, correspondents
regularly borrow from the
Israeli press for their reports
and there is no reason they
could not do the same with
the Arab media.
In the case of the PNC
resolutions, one need only
read the transcript broadcast
on the Voice of the PLO (Nov.
15) and the subsequent
statements by PLO officials to
see that the PLO's reported
movement toward moderation
is a sham. The PNC resolu-
tion refers to "the true image
of Israel as a racist, fascist,
settler state based on the
usurpation of the Palestinian
territory and the extermina-
tion of the Palestinian peo-
ple." It also calls for repatria-
tion of the Palestinians, but
the United Nations resolu-
tions the PNC endorsed also
refer to "resettlement," a con-
cept that was rejected in
Algiers.