Arafat Not to Attend Beirut Summit Under Israeli Conditions: Official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, March 25, 2002

Arafat Not to Attend Beirut Summit Under Israeli Conditions: Official

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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will not go to Lebanon to participate in the two-day Arab summit opening on Wednesday under the Israeli government conditions and obstacles, a Palestinian official said on Monday.

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a top aide to Arafat, told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah in the day that "Arafat has the full right to attend the Arab summit, but he would never leave for the summit according to the Israeli conditions."

"If Arafat does not accept the Israeli conditions to go for the summit, this would be a clear Israeli breach and violation of all the agreements," said Abu Rudeineh, stressing that "Israel would be totally responsible for this violation."

Abu Rudeineh also called upon the United States to move as quickly as possible to prevent the deterioration of "the extremely dangerous situation" in the Middle East.

"If Israel and the United States are interested in saving the Mideast peace process, they should not impose conditions on Arafat's travel out of Palestine," said he.

A trilateral security meeting between Israeli and Palestinian security officials under the supervision of U.S envoy Anthony Zinni ended Sunday night without any tangible results.

Palestinian security officials said that Zinni presented a working paper to the Palestinian side and asked for approval of it for reaching a ceasefire agreement to end the 18 months of bloodshed between the Palestinians and Israelis.

Abu Rudeineh said that the Palestinian leadership received Zinni's paper and would discuss it at a special meeting of the Palestinian cabinet and (in) the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee.

Meanwhile, Palestinian sources close to Arafat said that in case Arafat fails to attend the Beirut summit, he will address his speech to Arab leaders through telephone.

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