B"H

DATELINE JERUSALEM

“In conformity with the PLO-dependent security system, Western reporters ghettoized themselves and became, in effect accomplices to their own isolation and supervision.  They clustered around the Palestinian-run Commodore (Hotel) where they knew their movements, contacts, and outgoing communications would be monitored.  Some of those with separate offices in the city found that they needed local Palestinian employees in order to establish contacts and guide them through the complexities of life in Beirut .  These assistants were, in many cases, subject to the discipline of the PLO; and if the organizations was circumspect in its dealing with most of the foreign reporters, it could afford to be far less so in its demands on its fellow Palestinians or Lebanese Moslems.  Even reporters aware of the fact that their local employees might be a conduit to PLO intelligence were loath to give them up; in many cases such people were an invaluable buffer.”

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