PLO LEADERS SEND MEMORANDUM TO IRAQI LEADERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP05-01219R000300440062-7
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 4
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 1, 2012
• Sequence Number: 62
• Publication Date: July 11, 1978
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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V, 12 Jul 7~ I i~ T - A R A B A F F A I R S ,
JN111955Y Voice of Palestine [Clandestine] in Arabic to Arab World 1620 GMT 11 Jul 7$ JN
[Text] Brothers, the PLO Executive Committee has sent the following memorandum ~o the
of all its forces and of the unity of all its ranks so as to abort the plots of its
enemies, destroy their machinations, block their entry and their means, continue the
struggle to liberate Palestine and all the occupied Arab territories and move ahead
toward unity and progress.
~ ~~ ~~~
Res ected broth r -
p e s, revolutionary greetings: It gives us pain to find ourselves compelled
to discuss with you an issue which has hitherto been considered a very small matter. ~ ,
We are pained because our Arab nation is currently facing the greatest Zionist and
imperialist plots and is in need of the efforts of all its sons, of the mobilization
The issue noted has been steadily growing and is now threatening to sever what exists
between us. We allude to the issue of the absconding agent Abu Nidal and his group.
We have been silent for years about a radio station being run by him, or in his name,
from Baghdad. This radio station hurls lies and abuse at the Palestinian revolution
and at the PLO and at the groups and individuals in the organization in a manner which
does not and will not serve anybody except the enemies of Palestine, be they agents,
(?Zionists), imperialists or colonialists.
We counseled restraint toward his attempts aimed at our brother leaders and officials.
He failed, perhaps because he was not given official approval to carry out his intentions.
During the recent months the situation has deteriorated. It seems that the man who
moves these groups and. the radio trumpet broadcasting in the name of Palestine has
been hurt by the achievements of the Palestinian revolution, the Palestinian leadership
and the PLO. These achievements and victories exposed his lies and claims and revealed
his false showmanship, especially during the war in southern Lebanon against the Zionist
enemy and during the operations and victories which preceded and followed the war.
He became mad, or perhaps those who move him became mad.
Abuse, lies, instigations and rancor produced mean and cowardly assassinations. The
criminals began with the brother struggler Said Hammami, PLO representative in London.
Everybody knows that the assassination was treacherous and. was perpetrated by a man
whom the martyr trusted because he trusted every Arab, even if it were only because
that Arab is Arab by language. Everybody knows that the criminals, after perpetrating
their crime, went to Baghdad, where they found protection, security and cover.
Leaving aside such information, we know that Abu Nidal proudly announced, through his
radio station from Baghdad and through his pamphlets which the Iraqi embassies
distribute everywhere outside Iraq, that he and his group had killed the struggler
Said Hammami. The confession here is clear, and undoubtedly you have heard it because
you are nearer to your radio station [words indistinct] and you have read what he wrote
under the gaze of the censor in Daghdad [words indistinct].
Then came the abhorrent Larnaca operation in which Mr Yusuf as-Siba'i, chairman of the
Afro-Asian Solidarity Conference, was killed in the conference hall.
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V. 12 Jul 78 A 2
;'h~: :!orld heard your radio, which broadcasts in his name [Abu rlidal~s] from Baghdad,
Clait".1:: the murder, which was not only a cheap operation of assassinating an individual--
contrary to Arab and revolutionary concepts--but also apart of a plot, which almost
resulted in killing a number of Arab strugglers detained on the plane. Among these were
three Palestinian leaders. It was also part of the plot to sow discord between the
Palestinian and the Egyptian peoples.
Abu Nidal has announced that he was the perpetrator of the Larnaca operation. He announced
this openly and repeatedly throe gh his radio and his pamphlets. It was a plot to sow
discord among the ranks of the Arab nation, to split its unity and lead it into internecine
fighting. This serves only the Zionist enemy, who wants to see the Arab guns turned from
him to the direction of the Arabs themselves.
Then came the crime of assassinating brother struggler Ali Nasir Yasin, head of the PLO
office in Kuwait. This crime took place after a long series of talks and commentaries
from this radio station against the martyr, accusing him falsely of various things and
hurling at him its rancor, which openly called for his killing.
Then came the statement made by Abu Nidal to the magazine MIDDLE EAST, which was also
reported by the agencies on 22 June. Abu Nidal claimed responsibility for this heinous
crime and made serious remarks against the leadership of the PLO.
This is some of the clear evidence known to everybody. The evidence indicts Abu Nidal
and his group and raises a big question mark on the stand of your government, which allows
such persons to use the territory of fraternal Iraq and Iraqi material, training, equip-
ment and protection in order to perpetrate their crimes.
Tt,e heritage of the modern Palestinian struggle has been based on a single clear slogan.
This slogan supplies a plan of action and abase for relations among the struggler groups
and individuals. This slogan is: All the guns are directed against the Zionist enemy.
We are convinced of the rightness of this slogan because we took it from the history and
experience of our people. We have worked to prevent the shedding of a single drop of
Arab blood outside occupied Palestine or in places far from the Palestinian battles,
defending the Palestinian revolution, the revolution of all the Arabs.
Hence the crimes of Abu Nidal, his group and those behind them and the inaction regarding
their attempts opens a dark tunnel before the Palestinian struggle. We have been careful
until now not to be pushed into this tunnel. Imperialism and Zionism were not able to
push us to this precipice. Zionism and imperialism have been unable to impose such a
plot against our people in the occupied territories. Their plots outside occupied
Palestine have also been unable to push us to this tunnel.
Now it seems that the crimes of Abu Nidal and his group open the door for the enemies,
enabling them to utilize what is said, done or perpetrated in the Palestinian arena so
as to sow discord in Arab ranks and to instigate inter-Palestinian fighting without
being discovered. They will hide behind some Arabic-speaking forces which will carry
out their plots for them.
Therefore, we hope that the brothers, the leaders of the Iraqi Government, will understand
our attitude when we consider the support, help and silence of the Iraqi Government on the
actions of Abu Nidal and his group in Baghdad as a declaration of a war of annihilation
against the Palestinian people, their revolution and their leadership. This war is not
less than the campaigns which have been aimed at the liquidation of the Palestinian
revolution under various pretences and slogans.
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It gives a literal translation to the sloF:;ns raised by Brzezinski earlier this year when
eie said: Goodby to the PLO. This is the decision taken by [word indistinct] to destroy
the PLO, its forces, its leadership and its representatives before the southern Lebanese
war. [passage indistinct]
Theref ore, we insist on our demand that Abu Nidal and his group be handed over to us in
order to avoid bloods~.ed, to save our efforts and to preserve the unity of ranks [words
indistinct]. We are desirous that Iraq remain as the Iraqi people want it to be, a base
for the Palestinian struggle and not a base to destroy the Palestinian struggle and to
fight the Palestinian revolution and people.
May God lead our steps and yours in the service of the Arab nation.
[Signed] The Executive Committee of the PLO. Beirut, 28 June 1978
DJIBOUTI PRIME MINISTER MEETS AB LEAG ECRETARY
NC081440Y Cairo MENA in Arabic 1350 GMT 8 Jul 78 NC
[Text] Cairo, 8 July--At a meeting held today the Arab League Secretary General, Mahmud
Riyad, discussed with Djibouti Prime Minister Abdallah Kamil and the delegation accompanying
him the developments of the Arab position in general, the situation in the Horn of Africa
and the Arab issues which will be discussed at the African summit conference. The con-
ference is scheduled to convene in Khartoum on 17 July. They also discussed the program
of Arab technical aid to Djibouti, particularly the program to Arabize education there.
After the meeting, Riyad said that it has been decided to send an educational team to
Djibouti to study the Arabization of education there and the dispatch of 120 teachers to
work in Djibouti in addition to a number of technical experts to establish a training
center at the Labor Ministry. The financial estimates which have been set aside for this
aid amount to about $4 million.
Kamil said that his government has decided to nominate Mohamed Tas Mumin as Djibouti~s
permanent delegate to the Arab League and as charge d~affaires at the Djibouti Embassy in
Cairo.
The meeting was attended by Dr ~Abd al-Malik ~Awdah, the chairman of the Arab Technical
Aid Fund at the Arab League, and Muhyi ad-Din Sabir, the director general of the Arab
Organization for Education, Culture and Science;.
The Djibouti prime minister arrived in Cairo yesterday on a brief visit. He is scheduled
to leave for Khartoum to attend the meetings of the OAU ministerial council which began
yesterday.
.__._~
RAB_LEAGUE~~ SAYYID NAWFAL GRANTS INTERVIEW
[Text] Manama, 10 July--Dr Sayyid Nawfal, Arab League assistant secretary general, has
stressed that the differences among the Arab states do not benefit the national interests
of any Arab country or the pan-Arab interests of the whole Arab nation. These differences
also enable Israel and the forces hostile to the Arabs to achieve their illegitimate
ambitions in our big homeland.
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V. 12 Jul 78 A 4
TY:e assistant secretary general pointed out that Arab solidarity was and still is exposed
to violent upheavals, beginning with the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948 when the Arab
fcrces abandoned the Egyptian forces in face of the Israeli offensive, and ending with
the current differences which take the form of boycotting the Arab League as a means of
expressing these differences.
In an interview with the Bahraini newspaper AKHBAR AL-KHALIJ published today, Sayyid
Nawfal added that the Arab League is making every effort to achieve Arab solidarity, but
the difficulty lies in the real nonapplication of Arab League decisions because the Arab
League states do not abide by what they approve and do not implement the decisions except
in accordance with their laws and absolute will.
Regarding the role of the Arab League in the Lebanese crisis, Dr Sayyid Nawfal stressed
that the slogan which used to be raised on the Arabization or internationalization of
the issue of Lebanon had prevented actual and real intercession by the Arab League in
the events in Lebanon. However, the Arab League has interceded in the question of southern
Lebanon through its contacts for convening the Security Council and for coordinating the
Arab stand when the issue is discussed.
In reply to a question on the possibility of establishing an Arab League for the re~ection-
ist states, the assistant secretary general said that the Arab League Charter approves of
setting up Arab groupings among states with similar concepts as a means toward comprehen-
sive Arab unity, but establishing an Arab League of this type is out of question and does
not serve the aims of the charter. In its present formulation the Arab League is the
organization worth maintaining if the articles of its charter are implemented and the
Arab will is unanimous in support of ,joint Arab action.
STUDENTS OCCUPY ~AB LEAGUF~/OFFICE IN PARIS
NC101230Y Cairo MENA in Arabic 1225 GMT 10 Jul 78 NC
[Text] Paris, 10 July--Arab students and members of political organizations in France
occupied the Arab League office in Paris this morning in protest against the Arab League
council resolutions on South Yemen.
NC101759Y Cairo MENA in Arabic 1540 GMT 10 Jul 78 NC
[Text] Paris, 10 July--Representatives of Arab political and student organizations ended
their occupation of the Arab League office in Paris this afternoon. A spokesman of the
Arab League office said that the students left the office calmly. A representative of
the student organizations said that the purpose was to protest and convey a statement to
the Arab League Secretariat and then leave. A group of students and some members of
political organizations occupied the Arab League office in Paris at 1100 today.
WRAF 'MEETS WITH BULGARIAN AMBASSADOR IN BEIRUT
JN111722Y Voice of Palestine [Clandestine] in Arabic to Arab World 1700 GMT 11 Jul 78 JN
[Text] Brother Abu Ammar, chairman of the PLO Executive Committee and commander in
ch~.ef of the Palestinian revolution forces, received at noon today the Bulgarian ambas-
sador in Beirut. The radio correspondent has learned that the discussion dealt with
the latest developments in the current situation.
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