The Michigan Daily Vol. XC, No. 27-S Ann Arbor, Michigan-Saturday, June 14, 1980 Ten Cents Sixteen Pages Europeans want PLO in Mideast peace talks SECRETARY OF STATE Edmund Muskie yesterday offered the Palestine Liberation Organization a negotiating role if it renounces its commitment to destroy Israel. "The ball is in the PLO's court," Muskie said at a State Depart- ment news conference. Hgher education bkis Tisch Il ame By MITCH STUART amendment. The The presidents of Michigan's public and private colleges legislature and fro called the president and universities yesterday sent letters to Governor William Tisch said the r Milliken and all members of the state legislature denouncing ford to pay high pro the Tisch ballot proposal as "devastating" for higher government spend education in the state and endorsing the joint Milliken- strated educationa Legislative Coalition alternate proposal. "OUR EDUCA The constitutional amendment proposed by Shiawassee University Pre County Drain Commissioner Robert Tisch, if adopted, Tisch proposal, be "would be devastating for all of Michigan's colleges and mines the viability Tax cut crusader Robert Tisch said yesterday he is closing SHAPIRO SAID in on the number of signatures needed to put his latest Tisch amendment proposal on the fall ballot. See story, Page 8. ded, "but we're go - we do anything mu universities. Higher education in our state, as we know it eTisch criticized today, could not survive," the presidents wrote. The letter out on the subjec was the result of a resolution by the Presidents Council of presidents. Most o State Colleges and Universities and the Association of In- sation cut in half," dependent Colleges and Universities of Michigan to informs "They have no policy-makers and citizens of the implications of the Tisch tive," the drain con amendment. BUT SHAPIRO TISCH DISCOUNTED THE presidents' claims in a educationally, not telephone interview from his Owosso office yesterday, normal political-ty saying, "There's nothing devastating coming from the Tisch From AP andUPI VENICE, Italy - The Common Market countries yesterday launched a new Middle East initiative that would bring the once-ostracized Palestine Liberation Organization into peace talks up to now dominated by the United States, Israel, and Egypt. In a declaration issued at the end of a two-day summit conference here, heads of government of the nine nations said involvement in negotiations must be extended to the Palestinian people, "and to the PLO, which will have to be associated with the negotiations." BUT IN Washington, Secretary of State Edmund Muskie said the PLO cannot take part in current Egyptian- Israeli talks, but may be invited into the peace proces some time in the future. aders ndment only devastation will come from the m the people who wrote that letter." He ts' statements "lies." eal devastation is to people who can't af- operty taxes and to the victims of wasteful ing. He said the presidents' letter demon- l leadership is "afraid to take a chance. TORS TEND to be lazy," Tisch added. sident Harold Shapiro said yesterday the sides harming higher education, "under- of state government." D HE will continue to speak against the in public. "We're worried about it," he ad- ing to wait until it gets on the ballot before ch more." the higher education leaders for speaking ct. "I don't give a darn about university of those fellows could have their compen- he said. business going out and being politically ac- mmissioner added. STRESSED the presidents were speaking politically. "We don't intend to mount the 'pe campaign ... we'll work on the infor- See EDUCATION, Page 7 "The ball is in the PLO's court," he told a news conference. Muskie said the United States never will back PLO participation in peace negotiations until the organization renounces "its commitment to the ex- tinction of Israel." HE MADE A distinction between short-term talks, meaning the Egyp- tiarr-Israeli negotiations, and the long- term, meaning the eventual progress toward a comprehensive Middle East peace. For now, he said, "How do you expect Israel to negotiate and reach an agreement with an organization that calls for its destruction? Until the PLO backs off from that long-repeated stand, then it's not in our judgment eligible to take part in the specific negotiations." In the long run, he said, "The PLO, having abandoned some of its policies, ought to be represented. "WE ARE NOT trying to keep the- PLO out. We are just trying to make it clear to the PLO that it must change its position on Israel's right to exist." Farouk Kadoumi, head of the PLO's political department in Beirut, Lebanon, said the Common Market ac- tion was "positive but lacking several basic subjects." The declaration "deserves more consideration," he said, and the PLO leadership will meet today in Beirut to review the matter. Israel, which has said any mention of the PLO would legitimize the organization, made no immediate comment on the European initiative or Muskie's words. BUT IN CAIRO, Egyptian Foreign Affairs Minister Butros Ghali said the principles in the European declaration are "compatible" with those of the U.S.-mediated Camp David accords. "The European declaration calls for a comprehensive settlement, and so does Camp David; it calls for Palestinian participation in the negotiations, and so does Camp David; and it considers East Jerusalem an in- tegral part of the West Bank and so See MUSKIE, Page 2