The Israel Mission to the UN has received information from well placed sources here that Yasir Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, will come to New York in the next few weeks to address the 40th session and anniversary of the General Assembly. If Arafat’s visit materializes, it will be his second to the world organization. His first was in 1974, when he addressed the General Assembly carrying a gun in a holster.
“According to all signs, Arafat will come to the UN to address the General Assembly,” Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, said Wednesday in a press conference with Israeli reporters on the occasion of the opening Tuesday of the General Assembly.
More than 100 heads of state and government are expected to attend the Assembly. Among the visiting heads of state will be Israel’s Premier Shimon Peres. Netanyahu said that Peres will stay in the United States from October 20 to October 24, and that following his address to the Assembly he will go to Washington to meet with President Reagan. He said that the Premier’s itinerary is not yet finalized and the exact dates therefore for his UN appearance and the meeting with the President are still to be decided.
CITES NEW POSITIVE DEVELOPMENT
The Israeli envoy said that a new positive development has emerged this year regarding Israel’s diplomatic contacts with various member-states.
“There is a substantial change in the willingness of member-states to meet with Israeli representatives,” Netanyahu said. “Many countries which even do not have diplomatic ties with us, have agreed to meet with us during the Assembly. It seems that past years’ concerns, regarding Arab sanctions, are no longer a factor in the decision of many countries to hold meetings and discussions with Israel.”
He said that Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who is scheduled to arrive in New York on Sunday evening, will meet with more than 40 Foreign Ministers, some from countries which do not have diplomatic ties with Israel, such as East European and African nations.
Peres, the Ambassador noted, will meet with no less than a dozen heads of state, including India and Hungary, who do not have diplomatic relations with the Jewish State.
Noting that the Assembly will focus on the question of apartheid in South Africa, Netanyahu warned, nonetheless, that he anticipates an anti-Israeli campaign which will seek to link Israel with Pretoria’s racial policies. “The line that we are now hearing is that there is a new strategic triangle, which includes South Africa, the United States and Israel,” Netanyahu said, indicating that the Arabs will attack Israel, and the U.S., according to this line.
Netanyahu stressed Israel’s opposition to apartheid and said that Israel will extensively publicize its attitude during the General Assembly.
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