Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat is expected here Monday to participate in the international meeting of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) dealing with the question of Palestine and the call for a Middle East peace conference. The conference takes place September 7-9.
Arafat is scheduled to address the gathering and hold a press conference. The keynote address will be given by U.S. Rep. Nick Joe Rahall (D. W. Va.). Also participating is Vladimir Vinogradov, Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Israeli delegation to the United Nations here is planning to counter the conference with press briefings.
Beginning September 3, the NGO international coordinating committee is holding seminars on the Palestinian problem at the Ecumenical Center. There will also be an exhibition of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and a sale of handicraft by women from Lebanon and the Israel-administered territories.
Israeli, Palestinian and French authors are expected to sell and autograph their books. A festival of films on the Palestinian problem will be held at a local cinema.
Swiss authorities do no appear eager to have Arafat here. President and Foreign Minister Pierre Auber refused to receive the PLO leader. Instead, he will be received by general manager of the Ministry Edouard Brunner. One of the apparent reasons for Auber’s reluctance to meet with Arafat is the July hijacking of an Air Afrique jet by a Lebanese terrorist, Hussein Ali Mohammed Hariri, who was captured at the Geneva airport after killing a French passenger and wounding a steward. Hariri, imprisoned in Switzerland, is expected to stand trial here on charges of air piracy and murder. Switzerland has been geared for Arab terrorist reprisals since the hijacking.
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