July 12, 1986

Social/Economic/Political

Arab World: King Hussein states in press conference that he has no new peace initiatives for M.E. following breakdown in joint efforts with Yasir Arafat, states, "We believe in the PLO's being the sole legitimate rpresentative of the Palestinian people at least as far as the institution is concemed" [WP 7/13]. Hussein praises recent Soviet proposal for meeting of permanent members of UN Security Council on M.E. Washington Post reports 2 of the 5 permanent members, the U.S. and Britain, have rejected the proposal [WP 7/13]. Palestinian renegade officer 'Atallah 'Atallah (Abu Za'im) calls for directalks between the PLO and Israel and for convening a conference in Amman to oust Arafat [FJ 7/18].