RECENT SOVIET EFFORTS TO RECAPTURE THE INITIATIVE IN THE POLITICAL NEGOTIATIONS FOR A SETTLEMENT OF THE MIDDLE EAST PROGRAM HAVE INCLUDED PREPARING THE GROUNDWORK FOR EITHER THE ESTABLISHMENT OF AN INDEPENDENT PALESTINIAN STATE WITH THE SOVIET UNION AS ITS PATRON, OR, IF THAT PROVES UNFEASIBLE, THE PROVISION OF MILITARY ASSISTANCE TO THE PALESTINIANS AND TO THE PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION (PLO) AS A NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENT IN ITS OWN RIGHT. SOVIET POLICY BEFORE THE 1967 ARAB-ISRAELI WAR IGNORED THE EXISTENCE OF FEDAYEEN OR TERRORIST GROUPS, AND ALTHOUGH IT LATER PROVIDED RHETORICAL AID TO THESE GROUPS, IT CONTINUED TO SUPPORT THE UNITED NATIONS RESOLUTION ESTABLISHING ISRAEL AND THE CONTINUED EXISTENCE OF ISRAEL. MOREOVER, THE SOVIET POSITION VIEWED THE MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT AS PART OF A GLOBAL CLASS STRUGGLE, RATHER THAN A STRUGGLE BETWEEN ARAB AND JEWISH NATIONALISMS. AFTER 1973, HOWEVER, MOSCOW CONTACTS WITH THE PLO EXPANDED, ALTHOUGH THE RECOGNITION WAS DE FACTO RATHER THAN DE JURE. THE SOVIET POSITION ON THE PALESTINIAN QUESTION, THEREFORE, IS A PRAGMATIC ONE, DICTATED PRIMARILY BY THE USE OF THE PALESTINIANS IN ATTAINING SOVIET OBJECTIVES, AND HEAVILY INFLUENCED BY THE SEEMING DETERIORATION OF THE SOVIET POSITION IN THE MIDDLE EAST. IF A PALESTINIAN STATE WERE CREATED, MOSCOW WOULD BE EXPECTED TO EXERCISE CONSIDERABLE LEVERAGE AS A SUPPORTER OF PALESTINIAN RIGHTS AND AS A SOURCE OF ECONOMIC SUPPORT. (AOP)