247. Editorial Note
On September 15, 1971, delegations representing Jordan and the Palestine Liberation Organization arrived in Jidda, Saudi Arabia, to negotiate an agreement that would allow the fedayeen to live peacefully—and to some degree autonomously—in Jordan. The two sides did not begin face-to-face talks until September 20, after Saudi and Egyptian mediators, including Saudi King Faisal, had narrowed the gulf that existed between them on a variety of issues. (New York Times, September 21, 1971, page 2) A major sticking point for the Jordanian delegation was the recommendation that Jordan accept a small group of military supervisors on its soil to arbitrate between the government and the fedayeen. (Telegram 3337 from Jidda, September 20; National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 629, Country Files, Middle East, Saudi Arabia) With matters still unsettled, Jordanian representatives left the talks on September 24 for consultations in Amman and never returned. The Palestinian delegation left for Beirut two days later, where King Faisal, on a state visit to Lebanon, met with Yasser Arafat as part of a continuing joint Saudi-Egyptian effort to reconcile differences between Jordan and the PLO. (New York Times, September 30, 1971, page 15) According to U.S. intelligence sources, the Fatah wing of the PLO had sent a group to Jidda with the “principal aim of sabotaging” the discussions there, hoping to lay blame on Jordan for their failure, and thus prompting Egypt and Saudi Arabia to take punitive action against Jordan, information which the Embassy in Jidda had given to the Jordanian delegation. (Telegram 3282 from Jidda, September 15; National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 629, Country Files, Middle East, Saudi Arabia)