§ Mr. ArbuthnotTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a statement on the meeting of the Minister of State, the hon. Member for Bristol, West (Mr. Waldegrave), with Mr. Dassam Abu Sharif on 9 December.
§ Mr. WaldegraveThis meeting was arranged after Mr. Abu Sharif agreed to make a public statement which met in full the conditions we have maintained since 1985 for ministerial contact with the PLO. This is an important step forward. I am arranging for copies of the agreed text and of the statement as delivered from memory by Mr. Abu Sharif to be placed in the Library of the House.
Mr. Abu Sharif emphasised that the Palestinians were serious in seeking peace with Israel and that the decisions of the PNC in Algiers superseded the PLO charter. I welcomed this and his clarification of the PLO's recognition of Israel and opposition to all forms of terrorism and violence, which I hoped would be confirmed by Mr. Arafat's speech to the United Nations General Assembly in Geneva.
We hope that the Government of Israel will respond constructively and now agree to attend an international conference on the basis of Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.