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Above: West Bank scene near the Dead Sea; Below: A Palestinian tent on rubble from a destroyed building; At bottom: a shepherd moves his flock between fields.
By David Alexander
JERUSALEM (UPI) -- King Hussein abolished Jordan's Cabinet post for the Israeli-occupied territories Saturday in another step to reduce his kingdom's ties with the occupied West Bank.
Hussein issued a royal decree that abolished the post of minister for the occupied territories in the Cabinet of Prime Minister Zeid Rifai, Radio Jordan reported.
The radio said the Foreign Ministry would handle Palestinian affairs in the future -- the fourth step in Hussein's divorce from the troubled West Bank, where Palestinians have been rioting against Israel's 21-year occupation for nearly eight months.
Earlier, he fired 21,000 Jordanian employees in the region, canceled a $1.3 billion five-year development project and dissolved the lower house of Parliament, half of whose 60 seats were reserved for West Bank residents.
Simcha Dinitz, the former Israeli ambassador to the United States, told Israel Radio that Hussein -- with his latest step -- was sending a message to the Palestine Liberation Organization and to Israel that he would no longer be caught in the battle between the two.
Hussein announced in a speech last Sunday that he would reduce Jordanian ties with the West Bank because the relationship between the two had become a hindrance to the creation of an independent Palestinian state -- an achievement Palestinians consider essential for any Middle East peace settlement.
The king repeatedly stressed that the PLO was the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people in the West Bank and implied that the residents were now the PLO's responsibility.
The Middle East News Agency reported Saturday from Amman that a high-level PLO delegation would travel to Jordan next Thursday to discuss the "conditions resulting from the disengagement between Jordan and the West Bank."
Other reports said the delegation would prepare for a possible visit to Amman by PLO chairman Yasser Arafat.
Israeli government sources had predicted earlier that Hussein would abolish the Cabinet position for the occupied territories, saying such a move would be largely symbolic and would have little effect on the nearly 1 million Palestinians in the West Bank.
The sources said the two steps Hussein could still take that would affect the largest number of Palestinians in the territory would be to close the bridges between Jordan and the West Bank or cancel the passports of the area's residents, most of whom are Jordanian citizens.
A PLO official in Amman told MENA that Jordan had made no move to close bridges or revoke passports, but he warned that such a step could force the PLO to form a government in exile.
"Should the Jordanian government refuse to renew passports held by Palestinians, the discussion of alternatives will need a high-level meeting of Arab states or the dstablishment of a Palestinian government in exile," the official said.
The king had frequently been accused by Arab states of competing with the PLO for the loyalty of the West Bank Palestinians.
"Hussein is saying, 'I cannot allow the present situation to continue in which I am blamed by the PLO of being an agent of Israel and blamed by Israel of being an agent of the PLO. This village idiot, I am not,'" Dinitz said.
Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers in occupied West Bank shot and wounded three Palestinian youths during clashes Saturday, and a 15-year-old Arab youth shot by soldiers Friday died of his wounds, Palestinian sources said.
An army spokeswoman had said Friday that the 15-year-old had been slightly wounded while trying to throw a Molotov cocktail at a car near the Israeli settlement of Ariel in the vicinity of Nablus, 30 miles north of Jerusalem.
At least 229 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the nearly 8-month-old uprising against the 21-year Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Three Israelis also have been killed in the violence that began Dec. 9.
Saturday, August 6, 1988
Hussein takes another step in his divorce from the West Bank