214. Memorandum From Director of Central Intelligence Turner to Secretary of State Vance1
SUBJECT
- [1½ lines not declassified] Fatah Leader Yasir Arafat
1. [1 paragraph (11 lines) not declassified]
2. [1½ lines not declassified] Arafat denies having threatened American officials, accuses the Israelis of the murder of his aide on 22 January 1979,2 and berates the United States for failing to denounce this murder. Arafat then asks the following questions on the current peace talks:
[Page 748]a. Is it true that the U.S. has agreed to guarantee that Israel will receive its needed oil supplies, at OPEC prices, from either Egypt or the U.S.?
b. Is it true that the U.S. is handling the issue of Egypt’s defense pacts with other Arab states by obtaining a specific Israeli guarantee not to attack Syria or Jordan? [less than 1 line not declassified] Arafat sees this as an “open invitation” for the Israelis to strike at the Palestinians in Lebanon, rather than protection for Syria or Jordan.)
c. Is it true that the U.S. will agree to a clause making any “self-rule” timetable contingent upon “cooperation” by the inhabitants of the occupied territories? [handling restriction not declassified]
3. [1 paragraph (2 lines) not declassified]
4. [1 paragraph (8 lines) not declassified]
5. This information is also being provided to the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs.3 (U)
- Source: Carter Library, National Security Affairs, Staff Material, Middle East, Chron File, Box 136, Quandt: 3/20–31/79. Secret.↩
- Reference is to the January 22 assassination of Ali Hassan Salameh, reputed to be behind the attack on the Israeli Olympic team at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. (Edward Cody, “Bomb Kills Palestinian On Israeli Wanted List,” The Washington Post, January 23, 1979, p. A11)↩
- Quandt produced a draft response to Arafat’s March 10 message. The draft was edited from an earlier March 22 draft by Saunders, and forwarded to Brzezinski on March 23. The message repeated U.S. commitment to “focus its primary attention on the issues of concern to the Palestinians” in the coming negotiations and urged the Palestinians to consider providing “quiet authorization” to some West Bank and Gaza Palestinians to work with the United States and Egypt to bring about an Israeli military withdrawal and create a self governing authority. On Arafat’s concern over the January 22 assassination of his aide, Ali Hassan Salameh, the response states that the United States “had no association whatever” with Salameh’s murder. At the same time, the message concludes, the United States “seeks comparable assurance that all components of the PLO will take measures to prevent violence” against “American officials or installations.” Both Quandt’s and Saunders’s drafts are ibid.↩
- Turner signed “Stan Turner” above this typed signature.↩