Arab diplomats at the United Nations have launched an intensive diplomatic campaign to apply pressure on the United States to allow Yasir Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, to enter the United States in order to address the U.N. General Assembly, diplomats said.
Several Arab envoys, representing the Arab Group at the United Nations, met Monday with Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar, urging him to use his prestige and office to influence the State Department to issue the PLO leader a U.S. visa.
A U.N. spokesman said Monday that the United Nations, which forwarded Arafat’s request for a visa to the American authorities, has not yet been informed of the State Department’s decision.
Diplomats here said that Arafat, in an effort to gain the maximum public exposure, plans to address not only the General Assembly, but also a special session of the Security Council, which would be convened by the Arabs to discuss the situation in the territories under Israel’s control and the 11-month-long uprising.
If indeed Arafat is allowed to enter the United States, he will address the General Assembly on Nov. 29, which is designated as “Palestine Day” by the United Nations.
On Nov. 29, 1947, the General Assembly adopted the partition resolution dividing Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.
Diplomats predicted Arafat would use the 41st anniversary of that occasion to legitimize the Palestinian state proclaimed last week in Algiers.
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