Arafat Says U.S. Threatening to Kill PLO Officials
Yasser Arafat on Tuesday accused the United States of threatening to kill PLO officials if Palestinian guerrillas attack American targets. The United States denied the accusation. The State Department said in Washington that it had received reports the PLO might target Americans because of alleged U.S. involvement in the assassination of Khalil Wazir, the PLO's second in command. Wazir was slain April 16 during a raid on his house near Tunis, Tunisia. Israeli officials who spoke on condition they not be identified said an Israeli squad carried out the assassination. There have been accusations by the PLO that the United States knew about and approved plans for slaying Wazir. Arafat, the Palestine Liberation Organization leader, claimed the threat to kill PLO officials was made in a U.S. government document the PLO obtained from an Arab government. He refused to identify the government. In Washington, Assistant Secretary of State Richard Murphy denied Arafat's accusation that the United States threatened PLO officials. State Department spokesman Charles Redman said the United States has been in touch with a number of Middle Eastern countries about possible PLO attacks against American citizens and facilities. He added that Arafat's interpretation of those contacts was ``entirely without foundation.'' Arafat spoke at a news conference in his heavily guarded villa in Baghdad, where extra security guards have been deployed. He said security also was being augmented at PLO offices around the Arab world following the alleged threat. He produced a photocopy of the alleged document. It appeared to be part of a longer document with the word ``CONFIDENTIAL'' stamped at the bottom. The document, which was typewritten in English, referred to Wazir by his code name, Abu Jihad. It read: ``You may be aware of charges in several Middle Eastern and particulary Palestinian circles that the U.S. knew of and approved Abu Jihad's assassination. ``On April 18th (a) State Department spokesman said that the United States `condemns this act of political assassination,' `had no knowledge of' and `was not involved in any way in this assassination. ``It has come to our attention that the PLO leader Yasser Arafat may have personally approved a series of terrorist attacks against American citizens and facilities abroad, possibly in retaliation for last month's assassination of Abu Jihad. ``Any possible targeting of American personnel and facilities in retaliation for Abu Jihad's assassination would be totally reprehensible and unjustified. We would hold the PLO responsible for any such attacks.'' Arafat said the document ``reveals the U.S. administration is planning, in full cooperation with the Israelis, to conduct a crusade of terrorist attacks and then to blame the PLO for them. ``These attacks will then be used to justify the assassination of PLO leaders.'' He strongly denied that the PLO planned any such attacks.
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