Arafat Not to Attend OIC Conference

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 10, 2001

Arafat Not to Attend OIC Conference

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will not attend a meeting on Monday of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Qatar, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Sunday. "President Arafat will not take part in the Doha conference because he must stay with his people to confront the Israeli aggression," Erekat told Qatari satellite television al-Jazeera.

Meanwhile, Qatar's emir has asked US President George W Bush to urge Israel to let Yasser Arafat travel to Doha for the meeting, said Palestinian international cooperation minister Nabil Shaath. He was quoted by Egypt's official MENA agency saying that Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani telephoned Bush, but any response from Israel was still unclear.

Arafat is currently stranded in the West Bank town of Ramallah, which is under an Israeli blockade, and the Jewish state has said it has the right to stop him from travelling. Shaath said Israeli authorities had at first also barred him from leaving the Palestinian territories.

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