Syria-PLO rift may end with Assad-Arafat talks

DAMASCUS Syrian President Hafez Assad and Palestine LiberationOrganization Chairman Yasser Arafat discussed their long-standingdifferences in four hours of talks here Monday.

If the talks were successful, it could mean the end of a bitterfive-year split between the two men, dating back to June, 1983, whenArafat was expelled from Damascus and declared persona non grata.The split arose out of Syrian support for challenges to Arafat'sleadership of the PLO and led to major divisions within thePalestinian movement.

Arafat's talks with the Syrian president covered several issuesdividing the PLO and Syria, said Palestinian spokesman Rafik Natshe,a member of the main PLO group's Fatah Central Committee.

He said a major factor in the Arafat-Assad split was the PLOleader's continued relationship with Egypt following the Camp Davidpeace accords with Israel, which had led to Cairo's isolation by therest of the Arab world.

The talks also covered the Palestinian uprising in theIsraeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip, the unrest in Lebanon, thelatest U.S. peace proposals for the region and the Persian Gulf war,the PLO spokesman said.

Arafat arrived here Sunday and visited the grave of his slaincomrade-in-arms, Khalil Wazir, whose burial Wednesday served as acatalyst for the chairman's visit and the possibility of renewedPLO-Syrian dialogue. Wazir, better known as Abu Jihad, was gunneddown April 16 at his home in suburban Tunis by what well-informedsources in Jerusalem described as an Israeli commando unit.

Assad had met earlier with Col. Moustafa Kharroubi, a seniorLibyan official who accompanied Arafat to Damascus. Libya, theSoviet Union and Algeria have encouraged the rapprochement.

The Palestinian delegation included the PLO's political bureauchief, Salah Khalaf; Arafat's political adviser, Hani Hassan, andmembers of the Fatah Central Committee.

Nayef Hawatmeh, leader of the Democratic Front for theLiberation of Palestine, and George Habash, chairman of the PopularFront for the Liberation of Palestine, also participated in thetalks, which grouped several other Palestinian officials.

Hawatmeh described the PLO leader's visit as a milestone comingat a critical time in the Middle East.

"We must settle these problems before the Reagan-Gorbachevsummit this May," he said.

The breakaway Popular Front for the Liberation ofPalestine-General Command, headed by Ahmad Jibril, said here Mondaythat intra-Palestinian differences remained and could not be bridgedfor convenience's sake.