Israeli Cabinet Denies Contact with Arafat

The Israeli Cabinet on Sunday dismissed as “propaganda” remarks attributed to Yasir Arafat that he was having “indirect contacts with Israeli government officials.”

The story originated from Cairo, where the Palestine Liberation Organization chairman met Saturday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

In an interview published in the Rome daily II Messaggero, Arafat claimed the PLO had continuing secret contacts with Israeli officials.

Economics and Planning Minister Yitzhak Moda’i denied the story after Sunday’s weekly Cabinet meeting. “It is not true. The question was just asked in the government meeting. It was denied as propaganda which has no grounds to stand on.”

Arafat said he learned the Jerusalem government was preparing a “war scenario” in southern Lebanon.

“It’s true. They (the Israelis) send us many messages under the table, through our representatives in the occupied territories, through other channels in Europe and elsewhere,” Arafat said, according to the Italian newspaper.

Arafat said the American special envoy, Philip Habib, served as a channel during the Israeli seige of Beirut in 1982.

Arafat also claimed that according to his information, Israel is planning three types of operations against the Palestinians.

“The secret service, Mossad, has been given the order to carry out further attacks against our leadership,” he said.

“They will increase the repression in the occupied territories. At the same time, they are preparing a war scenario in southern Lebanon.

“It will be for the summer, maybe late spring, but they are preparing it. Not necessarily a war, but a crisis scenario,” Arafat told II Messaggero.

(JTA correspondent Ruth E. Gruber in Rome contributed to this report.)