PLO RELATIONS WITH ITALY

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T01058R000303580002-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: December 17, 2009
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: October 30, 1985
• Content Type: MISC

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/12/17: CIA-RDP85T01058R000303580002-6
Memorandum for: THE RECORD
These Talking Point Papers were requester
by NIO/WE. "French Policy on the PLO" was
prepared by "PLO Relations with
Italy" by EURA/WE/CPi. 25X1
Attachments:
30 October 1985
E U R A
Office of European Analysis
Directorate of Intelligence
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EU~Cit /W E /CM
3O Oc$ 8S
PLO Relations with Italy
Prime Minister Craxi and Foreign Minister Andreotti
have tried to cultivate good relations with the Arab World
in general and with the PLO in particular. They believe
that the PLO must be brought into the Middle East peace
process, and last December they began a direct--albeit
domestically controversial--dialogue with PLO leader Arafat.
Craxi was among the harshest critics of the recent Israeli
raid on PLO headquarters in Tunis
The pro-Arab, pro-PLO bias of Craxi and Andreotti is
not shared by the entire government. Their policy has
drawn especially heavy fire from Defense Minister Spadolini
and his Republican Party and was at least partly responsible
for Spadolini bringing down the coalition. In the
negotiations to form a new government, the Republicans have
demanded a more even-handed Middle Eastern policy. The
Social Democrats and the Liberals, junior members of the
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2009/12/17: CIA-RDP85T01058R000303580002-6
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5-party coalition, have also criticized the government't
pro-PLO bias.
Craxi and Andreotti have tended to justify their st.3r~i
in terms of Italy's location and its vulnerability to
economic pressure--on investments and trade as Nell as oil
and gas supplies--from the Middle East.
previously been linked to the Red Brigades, and a Narrant
for Arafat's arrest c+as issued in Rome a year ago.
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