Egypt Reportedly Will Expel PLO Guerrilla Brigade

CAIRO â€”  Egypt’s break with the Palestine Liberation Organization will include the expulsion of a brigade of PLO guerrillas, sources close to the government said Wednesday.

Egypt created the Ain Jalout brigade about 30 years ago, but it has been inactive since the 1973 Middle East War. Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

The expulsion of the brigade, whose members live at Egyptian military camps, was part of the Egyptian decision announced Monday to sever ties with the PLO, said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Egypt broke with the PLO because of a resolution passed by the Palestine National Council, the PLO’s parliament in exile, which met last week in Algeria. The resolution restricted ties with Egypt so long as its treaty with Israel remains in force.

The Egyptian government said the council enacted the measure, and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat went along with it, under pressure from Syria and radical PLO factions. The radicals had made acceptance by Arafat a condition for reconciling with his Fatah group after a three-year rift.

PLO Offices Closed

Foreign Minister Esmat Abdel Meguid announced Monday that Egypt was closing PLO offices in Egypt. PLO labor and women’s offices are not affected by the government order.

Meguid did not mention the Ain Jalout brigade. The sources said the government has set no deadline for the guerrillas to leave, and that most would probably go to Algeria or Iraq.

Estimates of the present size of the brigade, named for a 13th-Century battle in which Egyptians defeated the Mongols in what was then Palestine, range between several hundred and 3,000.

President Gamal Abdel Nasser established, financed and trained the brigade in the late 1950s. It later became part of the so-called Palestine Liberation Army, which officially was the PLO’s military wing. The PLA never figured as an effective fighting force against Israel, and it has been overshadowed by guerrilla forces of the various factions comprising the PLO.