The Go-Between

) Washington has found a way to keep communicating with the P.L.O. despite President Bush’s decision to break off talks in reaction to the unsuccessful Palestinian raid on Israel’s coast. Secretary of State James Baker, who has given Europeans the impression that he opposed the cutoff, has privately asked the British to act as a link between the U.S. and the P.L.O. British Foreign Secretary Douglas Hurd has agreed to Baker’s request, and will soon visit the Middle East, where he is expected to meet with Yasser Arafat. The P.L.O. leader has accepted the Baker approach.