Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat is expected to address the upcoming session of the United Nations General Assembly which opens September 21, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has learned from diplomatic sources here. But Arab and PLO diplomats said no such plans are known. The PLO has never given advance information about the arrival of its leaders at the UN, partly for security reasons.
According to the diplomatic sources, Arafat who visited the UN and addressed the General Assembly in the fall of 1975, will be received at this session “with great honors and with all due ceremonial procedures.”
The fact that the President of the General Assembly this year will be an Ambassador of one of the Eastern bloc countries, probably Hungary, would facilitate the reception of Arafat as a head of state, the sources said. Arafat was received as a head of state in 1975, in large measure because the Foreign Minister of Algeria was President of the General Assembly.
According to the sources, no date has been selected for Arafat’s appearance. The sources explained that he probably wants to come to the UN to demonstrate the PLO’s continuing political power despite its military defeat in Lebanon this summer.
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.
