Four PLO groups reject Arab, US peace plans

By Compiled From Wire Service Dispatches With Analysis From Monitor Correspondents Around The World; Edited By Anne Collier

January 18, 1983

Beirut

The rift in the Palestine Liberation Organization between supporters and critics of PLO chief Yasser Arafat has widened following the rejection by four commando groups of both Arab and US Mideast peace plans.

The four groups, meeting in Tripoli, Libya, said they would ''stick by the gun and armed struggle as a method for liberation of Palestine,'' according to a 30-point statement reported by the Libyan news agency Jana.

Middle East analysts took the rejection of the Arab plan adopted at Fez, Morocco, in September as a direct challenge to Mr. Arafat's cautious sounding out of peaceful ways to solve the Mideast crisis.