Hussein Quits Joint PLO Peace Effort

AMMAN, Jordan--King Hussein said yesterday he has ended a year-long effort to work jointly with Yasser Arafat toward peace with Israel because the PLO did not meet its commitments.

"We are unable to continue to coordinate politically with the PLO leadership until such time as their word becomes their bond," he said in a recorded television speech that lasted more than four hours and included a detailed review of his efforts to make plan work.

It was the second time Hussein had tried to cooperate with the Palestine Liberation Organization in a Middle East peace effort. He abandoned the previous effort in April 1983 for similar reasons.

Although he is negating the agreement on a joint approach to peace that he and Arafat reached on Feb. 11, 1985, Hussein said its "principles and tenets will continue to embody the foundations governing relations between the Jordanian and Palestinian peoples with regard to equality of rights and obligations in facing our joint destiny."

He also said that, on Jan. 29, he rejected a U.S. proposal to deal with Israel in cooperation with Palestinians not connected with the PLO. "Our unwavering position was no separate settlement," the king said.

Hussien repeated his acceptance of the 1974 Arab summit conference designation of the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.

Israel's defense minister, Yitzhak Rabin, said in Tel that Hussein's decision created a "historic opportunity" for Middle East peace. Rabin called on the 1.3 million Palestinians in Israel's occupied territories to jettison the PLO.

Hussein did not reveal his future plans, but he said "Jordan believes in peace" and outlined six Jordanian efforts to reach an accommodation with Isreal after the 1967 Middle East war.

He said the February 1985 agreement began "a grueling year of intensive effort" and ended Feb. 7 when Arafat concluded a 13-day visit to Amman without meeting condition the United States had set for dealing with the PLO.

Central among those was that the PLO accept U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 which recognize Israel's right to exist within secure borders in return for its withdrawal from occupied Arab territories.

Hussein said the PLO chief promised last August to approve the resolutions. In the end, however, Arafat restated his organization's traditional position that they were unacceptable because they do not mention the Palestinians' right to self-determination--in effect, a homeland.