More than half the Senate has signed a letter to Secretary of State George Shultz praising him for his decision to bar Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat from entering the United States.
“We strongly commend you for the courage you showed in articulating this issue,” the senators said in the letter. It was drafted by Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.).
The letter said the senators “are extremely pleased” by Shultz’s action, which prevented Arafat from addressing the U.N. General Assembly in New York. “Once again, we commend your actions and applaud the firm and steady hand with which you have ably steered the State Department.”
A spokesman for Grassley said the letter is being signed by more than the 51 senators who signed a letter to Shultz earlier this month. Also drafted by Grassley and DeConcini, that letter urged that Arafat not be allowed into the country “until he and the PLO renounce terrorism as a tool of foreign policy.”
The new letter was still being circulated late Wednesday for additional signatures, before being delivered to Shultz.
The letter was one of the few words of praise Shultz has received for his action, which has been condemned by most of the European allies.
“I think it was the right decision; I stick by it,” Shultz said at a State Department ceremony Tuesday.
Shultz said he was not surprised by the criticism, but his decision was made because of “our concern about terrorism.”
“I am afraid that it is too easy for people to forget what an important problem that is and what a threat it is to civilized society,” Shultz said. “If we have made the point that we really care and are concerned, that’s good.”
Shultz said that even without Arafat, other PLO representatives could still make their case in a debate on the Palestinian issue at the General Assembly in New York. “We have no problems with that. We want to hear what they have to say,” he said.
But the General Assembly, which has postponed the debate, is considering moving it to Geneva, so Arafat can address it.
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