Diary Entry - 10/22/1982

The big day! King Hassan (Morocco) and representatives of the Arab League including one from Syria & one representing the Palestinians. This was no negotiating session. They were here to exchange views with the express idea there would be nothing calling for a yes or no answer. We met in the cabinet room. It was apparent the King in his presentation as spokesman had to be careful to represent a consensus view. Still it gave room for optimism. There seems to be a general feeling that King Hussein (Jordan) should be the negotiator with Israel. Then the King & I went in for a one on one in the oval office. There we got down to the real meat—the P.L.O. He had met with Arafat. He accepted my view that Arafat would have to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a nation before we could have any contact with him. He offered a sample of what Arafat should say and I agreed it was good enough. Then he indicated he thought he could deliver that in 3 weeks or a month. We broke for lunch—a very pleasant one in the State Dining room. The King introduced us to tea with Am. mint. It was very tasty. A few office chores then off to Camp David.