Arafat: No Surrender for the P.L.O.

Only hours after the latest cease-fire went into effect, Yasser Arafat, chairman of the P.L.O., gave an exclusive interview to TIME Middle East Bureau Chief William Stewart. The session took place in an underground P.L.O. bunker while armed commandos sat in every doorway. Instead of the usual Arab headdress, Arafat was wearing a stiff fatigue cap and an olive-drab uniform. Excerpts from the interview:

On the state of current negotiations: It is very important to know who has been lying to whom. It seems that communications have been confused, because I have some channels of my own with the Americans. One of my important channels is through Saudi Arabia, especially King Fahd. In my contacts with him, he was telling me that he felt the Americans did not have accurate information about what we [the P.L.O.] have accepted and what we have refused. I said it is so. He then asked me, "What about your channels in Beirut?" I said my channels are very, very accurate here because they are through Prime Minister Wazzan.

On the latest proposals for a settlement: Well, we have the latest U.S. proposals and we have since made some of our own. I won't comment on them, but we have expressed our willingness since the beginning of this invasion to review the entire Palestinian presence in Lebanon. We have presented a number of suggestions to the Lebanese National Salvation Committee. These called for an Israeli withdrawal of five kilometers and the entry of the Lebanese army to separate the combatants.

The Palestinians would withdraw to their camps and be subject to Lebanese law and sovereignty. Our forces would be governed by a specific formula whereby they would be considered as allied to the Lebanese army. Habib and the Israelis rejected all these positive suggestions. They insisted on imposing complete surrender, which we will not accept, not even consider, under the circumstances.

The Palestinian leader in Beirut

On the Arab role in the crisis: The Israeli invasion has taken place at a time when the Arab world is suffering from acute internal divisions. It is U.S. policy, especially through Camp David, that has intensified these divisions and contradictions. Washington and Tel Aviv exploited the absence of Arab solidarity.

On the future of the P.L.O.: We enjoy a special legal status in all Arab countries where we have offices and regular military forces. We have announced our willingness to accept that our status in Lebanon be similar to our social, political and military status in other Arab countries that host Palestinians.

On the U.S. role in the current crisis: The Israeli military operation took place with the complete approval of the U.S. Administration. [The U.S. has flatly denied this contention.] The U.S. justifies this operation by claiming that it will create a strong government in Lebanon. Frankly speaking, I do not see the possibility of creating a strong government in any Arab country through the use of Israeli tanks. A dangerous situation has been created in the Middle East through U.S. support of Israeli aggression against the Palestinian peoples, and through the Palestinians against the Arab and Islamic peoples. Washington has struck a massive blow at its moderate Arab friends.

On the P.L.O.'s current condition: We have been subjected to a war of annihilation with American weapons and American support. The P.L.O. is faced with an extremely grave situation. But there is no power on earth today capable of destroying the Palestinian People's National Movement after a struggle that has gone on for 18 years. We have been fighting for the right to live, for self-determination, for a future for our children. These are principles which the American people respect. We hope they will stand by them.

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