President Leopold Senghor of Senegal has sent a message to Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin in which he said that PLO chairman Yasir Arafat had become more moderate and now favored a settlement with Israel.
Senghor, in London last week for a meeting of the Socialist International, had hoped to report directly to Rabin his impressions of the Afro-Arab summit in Cairo last month. Both are vice-presidents of the Socialist International. But as Rabin could not attend the meeting in London, Senghor asked Israeli Ambassador Gideon Rafael to pass on his views to Jerusalem in the hope of encouraging an Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.
Senghor and Rabin had met unexpectedly in Switzerland two weeks before the Cairo conference at which Senghor also had talks with Presidents Anwar Sadat of Egypt and Hafez Assad of Syria and Saudi Arabian officials. At last week’s 40-minute meeting, Rafael told Senghor that Israel did not share his optimism concerning Palestinian “moderation” and drew his attention to the resolutions of the Palestine National Council. Details of the meeting were given by the Israeli Embassy’s press department.
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