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Yasser Arafat and Nicolae Ceausescu

Ceausescu's Diplomacy in the Middle East

This collection consists of documents from various archives in Romania and provides a fuller picture of Eastern Bloc involvement in Middle East politics after June 1967. These materials specifically show the importance of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to Romania and other communist countries. Leaders in the Eastern Bloc came to see the PLO as a fellow standard-bearer of the socialist revolution, fighting for the same cause. As a result of this affinity, the Romanian Communist Party duly provided the PLO with support and advice about political, ideological, organizational, and diplomatic matters.

Yasser Arafat and Nicolae Ceausescu

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February 14, 1974

Minutes of Conversation between Nicolae Ceaușescu, the General Secretary of the Romanian Communist Party, and the Delegation of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, led by Yasser Arafat

Yasir Arafat and Nicolae Ceaușescu discuss policy for Palestine and the diplomatic relationship between the two entities.

April 5, 1972

Minutes of Conversation between Comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu and the President of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Yasser Arafat, in Cairo, April 5 1972

Nicolae Ceaușescu and Yasir Arafat discuss the struggles of Palestine and goals in regards to Israel.

June 2, 1966

Minutes of Conversation between Nicolae Ceaușescu and the Shah of Iran, Bucharest

During a visit to Bucharest in June 1966 Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi told Ceaușescu that the 'small powers' in the international system must try to 'get along' in order to allow the superpowers to 'cut down on the responsibilities they took upon themselves intentionally or not, wisely or not.'

June 12, 1967

Minutes of Conversation [taken at] the Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party, June 12 1967

Minutes of conversation of a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party to discuss the diplomatic response to the Six Day War, including Israel's support from the West, food aid to Egypt, and the USSR helping the Arabs in the future.

March 13, 1958

Notes from Meeting between the Iranian Comrades and Comrade Nicolae Ceaușescu, Bucharest, March 13, 1958

Record of a meeting between the Tudeh First Secretary, Reza Radmanesh, and Nicolae Ceauşescu, then a member of the Politburo of the Romanian Workers' Party, shortly after the Tudeh's Fifth Plenum in Bulgaria, where the Iranian communists pledged themselves to working with 'all national and democratic forces' in Iran. Document highlights the disarray and fragmentation of the Tudeh at this time.
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Romanian sources provide a fuller picture of Eastern Bloc involvement in Middle East politics after June 1967, including connections to the Palestine Liberation Organization.

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