
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 11, 1991                   TAG: 9104110653
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DAMASCUS, SYRIA                                LENGTH: Short

PLO CUTOFF SIGNALED BY SAUDIS

Saudi Arabia informed the United States today that it was cutting off financial support to the Palestine Liberation Organization, a senior U.S. official said.

Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, also responded positively to an Israeli proposal for Mideast peace talks, the official told reporters as Secretary of State James Baker flew here to discuss the peace plan with Syrian President Hafez Assad.

Israel's proposal for peace talks includes participation by Palestinians - but not PLO members - in a mixed delegation with Jordan.

Financial support from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other oil-rich Arab countries has made it possible for Yasser Arafat's PLO to carry out its guerrilla raids against Israel.

But the Saudis were disappointed when the PLO backed Iraq in the Persian Gulf War.

A Saudi suspension of financial support to the PLO could build confidence in Israel that Arab attitudes are changing.

Baker has been trying to sell Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir on that idea in order to encourage him to risk giving up territory to the Arabs in the peace settlement.

by CNB