Syria insisted today that the Palestine Liberation Organization be represented at the Geneva peace talks.
“Syria will never go to Geneva without the P.L.O.,” Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam of Syria declared in an interview with Al Watan, a Kuwait daily. It was his first reaction since he saw President Carter last week.
At the same time, the Syrian Government newspaper Thishrin said Syria contimed to demand a settlement based on two principles: complete Israeli withdrawal from the territories occupied in 1967 and recognition of Palestinian national rights, including a Palestinian state.
Mr. Khaddam is planning to tour Arab capitals in a move to explain the Syrian position and to discuss the next moves, according to informed sources. Syria is pressing for an Arab conference to review alternatives.
Apparently taking a harder line, the Palestinian command has decided that will neither recognize Israel nor establish peace. This position was announced by Hanial‐Hassan, political adviser of Yasir Arafat, the Palestinian leader, at an Arab University rally here.
Mr. Hassan called for the creation of an Iraqi‐Syrian‐Palestinian alliance to confront Israel. This appeared to represent a hardening of positions because up to now Syria and the Palestinians have been allied with Egypt in its peace efforts while Iraq and Libya have rejected a negotiated settlement.
Arab analysts felt there were still chances for the Geneva camp as long as Mr. Arafat remained in touch with President Anwar‐ el‐Sadat of Egypt. The Palestinian saw Mr. Sadat yesterday for the third time in a week.
The Arab inflexibility was clearly in response to Israel’s refusal to deal with the P.L.O. or consider the possibility of a Palestinian state.
It also coincided with Arab press reports about United States substantive proposals that have not been made public. Beirut’s pro‐Palestinian daily As Safir published yesterday the purported content of a message to President Sadat from Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy in New York.
