Russia Supports Arafat's Attending Arab Summit

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, March 26, 2002

Russia Supports Arafat's Attending Arab Summit

Russia hopes and believes Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will participate in the Arab summit, scheduled for March 27-28 in Beirut, a high-ranking Russian diplomat said Monday.

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Russia hopes and believes Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will participate in the Arab summit, scheduled for March 27-28 in Beirut, a high-ranking Russian diplomat said Monday.

"The situation in the Palestinian territories is one of the key problems to be discussed at the forthcoming Arab summit. Debates on this issue in the absence of the leader of the Palestinian National Administration would be devoid of significance," the diplomat told local reporters.

There is hope that the summit will produce a common platform showing that the Arab countries have opted for peace, and the initiative of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah may serve as a basis for this, he said.

The official did not rule out the possibility that the summit would fail to produce such a document if Arafat is absent from the conference.

Russia believes that Arafat's participation in the Arab summit will be exceptionally important, he said.

Intensive efforts are being made to produce a cease-fire agreement between Israelis and the Palestinians. Another meeting of the U.S.-Palestinian-Israeli commission on security will take place later on Monday, and there are certain chances that the parties can come to terms on settling the situation in the region, he said.

It is important for the Arab world to achieve unanimity on a settlement of the issue involving Iraq, he said, adding that the resumption of Iraq's dialogue with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan was a very positive sign.

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