The Ultimate Survivor

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EVEN BEFORE HIS LATEST BRUSH WITH ETERNITY, Yasser Arafat was described by allies and enemies alike as the Middle East's ultimate survivor. His 23-year tenure as chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization has been marked by repeated political defeats, accidents and assassination plots. So after his plane was reported missing over Libya last week, political leaders restrained themselves from dwelling on what life might be like without him.

Sure enough, he was rescued 12 hours later with only minor injuries. Three crewmen on his Russian-built turboprop plane were killed when it crash-landed during a sandstorm over the southern Libyan desert. He and his staff of nine had been flying from the Sudan to Libya when the storm closed in. Libyan search planes found the downed craft the next morning. "I'm well," Arafat said.

When the plane vanished, the p.l.o. appealed for international help, and former President Jimmy Carter phoned the White House with the request for American assistance. The p.l.o. later expressed its gratitude to the U.S., which has no official relations with the organization. But officials in Washington insist they were still only "evaluating" the request when Arafat was rescued. The U.S., they said, did "absolutely nothing" to help locate him.