Grapevine

By JANICE CASTRO (

Be Careful What You Wish For SENIOR OFFICIALS OF FATAH, YASSER ARAFAT'S P.L.O. faction, are telling of a plot that backfired on them. They say Fatah, not HAMAS, the Palestinian fundamentalist group, was responsible for the murder of an Israeli border policeman last month, which triggered the controversial expulsion from Israel of 415 alleged Hamas members. Fatah wanted to cause problems for its rivals in Hamas, which opposes the Middle East peace talks. Instead, the overreaction by the Israelis has aroused strong popular support for Hamas. P.L.O. representatives at the peace talks are refusing to continue

until the deportees come home.