Former President Gerald Ford has offered to meet Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat as a “private citizen” to further PLO participation in the Middle East peace process. Ford, on a business trip to Kuwait, reportedly made the offer at an impromptu press conference there yesterday. He said Arafat would have to “recognize that any such meeting would mean an admission on his part that Israel would be recognized by him and his people.”
Ford made it clear that he was speaking for himself and that he would not be representing the U.S. government should he meet with Arafat. He reiterated his belief that the PLO “should participate in any future negotiations” for a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. Ford, and former President Jimmy Carter expressed the same view to reporters last October after attending the funeral of President Anwar Sadat of Egypt in Cairo.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
