Arafat Expresses Desire to Attend Arab Summit

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, January 19, 2002

Arafat Expresses Desire to Attend Arab Summit

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat expressed desire to participate in the upcoming Arab League (AL) summit to be held in Beirut in March, the official NNA news agency reported on Friday.

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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat expressed desire to participate in the upcoming Arab League (AL) summit to be held in Beirut in March, the official NNA news agency reported on Friday.

Arafat said in a letter to Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, which was delivered by Palestinian Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Nabil Amro on Friday, that the critical situation in the region "needs more external interference and pressure on Israel."

Arafat briefed Lahoud on the latest development in the region and called for "urgent Arab operation to face such sensitive situation."

He reiterated his committment to peace process, while denying again any linkage of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) with the weapons boat seized two weeks ago by Israel in the Red Sea.

Amro told President Lahoud that Palestinians look forward to a vitalized pan-Arab support action that would break the traditional routine.

"We have no excessive demands for political and financial support. The Palestinian leadership wants only what is possible for the Arabs to offer, not the impossible," he noted.

Israel is currently blockading Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah, preventing him from traveling in Palestinian territories or abroad.

The Jewish state vowed to keep Arafat confined to Ramallah until the PNA hands over the assassins of Israeli Tourism Minister Rahavam Zeevi to Israeli police.

If Arafat shows up at the summit, it will be the first time for him to return to Beirut,his one-time main Middle East power base, since 1982.

Arafat was evacuated with 8,000 guerrillas from Beirut in 1982, after Israeli invasion to Lebanon to rout out the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Current Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was then Israeli Defense Minister.

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