Middle East Null and Void

Yasser Arafat speaks passable English but hardly a syllable of French. So it was no slip of the tongue when the chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization chose to use a French word during a live interview on France's TF1 television channel. At one point, Arafat declared as caduque -- a legal term meaning null and void -- the controversial 1964 P.L.O. charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel.

For Arafat the statement crowned another diplomatic success. His meeting with President Francois Mitterrand last week marked the first time that he has been officially received by a major West European leader. Mitterrand took the opportunity to urge Arafat to explain the P.L.O.'s stand on the charter, and seemed pleased with the results. Although Arafat refused to back formal abrogation of the charter, Premier Michel Rocard said Arafat's statement "constituted a positive clarification in the direction of peace."

Not so easily impressed were Israel's political leaders, who have contended that the P.L.O.'s much publicized recognition of Israel last year is meaningless because the organization refuses to abrogate what is in effect its constitution. Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin told Israeli television that Arafat is still engaging in "pathetic acrobatics."

Arafat's statement nonetheless provoked a predictable outcry from Palestinian radicals. "We shall show Arafat and the world that the P.L.O. charter remains very much alive," said George Habash, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. In the past two weeks gunmen in Lebanon assassinated Bassam Hourani, a commander of Arafat's Force 17 security arm, and launched attacks on two other Arafat aides.

Israel's continuing refusal to acknowledge Arafat's olive branch presents him with a growing dilemma. While he had hoped that the start of a U.S.-P.L.O. dialogue last December would result in pressure on Israel, that has not happened.

For now, Arafat's peace initiative continues to be propelled by the intifadeh, the 17-month-old uprising that has left 20 Israelis and at least 361 Palestinians dead. But if another year goes by without any serious prospect of peace talks, Arafat may pronounce his initiative a failure. That could be the start of an even bloodier phase. According to Arafat confidants, P.L.O. activists may then be given the green light to start using bullets instead of stones against the Israeli occupation forces.