Nicholas Veliotes, the U.S. ambassador to Egypt, warmly praised Egypt Sunday for its role in ending the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro. He said Washington hopes the diplomatic storm over its interception of the Egyptian airliner carrying the Palestinian hijackers would soon blow over. Veliotes summoned American correspondents to the U.S. Embassy here to read an official statement that expressed ”deep regret” for what he called the ”necessary” diversion of the Egyptian plane to a NATO base in Sicily.
Observers saw the release of the U.S. statement in Cairo as a further sign of President Reagan`s concern over strains on U.S.-Egyptian relations and the Middle East peace process in the wake of the interception.
Mohammed Beltagy, a senior Egyptian government spokesman, expressed fears that the interception of the Egyptian plane and the arrest of the four hijackers by Italian authorities would ”provoke another round of
retaliation” by the Palestinians and a ”further escalation of violence in the region.”
In Tel Aviv, Israeli officials, elated by the U.S. military action, said Sunday that Israel hopes the hijack saga has shattered prospects for a Palestine Liberation Organization role in the Middle East peace process.
Although Israel has stated its willingness to negotiate with Jordanian and Palestinian representatives, it has fought hard to exclude the PLO from the peace process.
”This could be a turning point in the peace process,” said an official close to Prime Minister Shimon Peres. ”It could lead to direct discussions between Israel and a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation, minus the PLO.”
Veliotes issued his statement after he delivered a personal letter to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak from President Reagan. The ambassador said the U.S. wants to put recent events ”into perspective and . . . erase any lingering doubts concerning (U.S.) attitudes or intentions.”
Declining to disclose the contents of Reagan`s letter, Veliotes characterized it as ”a very good first step in the aftermath” of the interception to heal the rift in relations.
”Let me stress that we have no interest in offending the government or people of Egypt,” Veliotes said. ”We are friends. Egyptians are a very proud people and, from the point of view of the United States, these are the only kind of friends worth having.
”From Presidnet Reagan on down, our goal is to put these incidents behind us as soon as possible, to eliminate misunderstandings and strains and move forward toward the common goals of peace, stability and economic development in this troubled region.”
Veliotes` statement came one day after Mubarak charged that U.S. intervention was an unexpected act of ”piracy” by a friendly country that
”wounded” him and caused a strain in U.S.-Egyptian relations that would take a ”long time” to heal. The U.S. action also sparked anti-American demonstrations here Saturday by Cairo University students.
Meanwhile, the intercepted Egyptian plane flew back to Cairo Sunday and the Achille Lauro, impounded by Egyptian authorities at Port Said since Friday, steamed back to its home port of Naples, officials here said.
In an interview with the official Egyptian Middle East News Agency in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, Mohammed Abbas, leader of the Palestine Liberation Front, which claimed responsibility for the Achille Lauro hijack, confirmed reports that the original intention of his men was to sail aboard the Italian liner to the Israeli port of Ashdod and stage an attack against military installations there. He also confirmed Israel`s claims that the plan went awry when the gunmen were discovered by a crewman while cleaning their guns in their cabin.
Abbas was aboard the Egyptian airliner when it was forced down in Sicily late Thursday but refused to leave the aircraft. With Italy`s aid, he subsequently escaped onto a Yugoslav plane in Rome and flew to Belgrade late Saturday.
Yugoslav authorities Sunday turned down an American request to extradite him.
In praising Egypt`s role in ending the piracy, Veliotes said Egypt had
”prevented a catastrophe of incalculable proportions.” The hijackers, demanding the release of 50 Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails, murdered a disabled 69-year-old Jewish-American passenger and threatened to blow up the vessel unless their demands were met.
Egypt and PLO negotiators persuaded the hijackers to surrender by promising them safe passage out of the country. After it was discovered that one of the passengers had been killed, Egypt claimed PLO chairman Yasser Arafat had pledged to put the terrorists on trial.
A U.S. official who spoke on condition he remain unidentified said the U.S. strongly doubted that Arafat would put the hijackers on trial, and intercepted the pirates` getaway plane to avoid letting them escape.
In Khartoum, Sudan, Arafat accused Arab states of muted reaction to the U.S. interception of the Egyptian airliner carrying the hijackers.
