The U.S. government cast doubt on reports here Tuesday that Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat had been assured of receiving a visa to enter the United States and was planning to arrive at the United Nations next week.
A State Department official in Washington said that no decision on the matter had been made, and a U.N. spokesman said the United Nations had received no official word about it from the U.S. government.
Arafat requested permission, through the United Nations, to enter the United States, in order to address the U.N. General Assembly. The world body is scheduled to open its annual debate on the Palestinian question next Tuesday, Nov. 29, the 41th anniversary of General Assembly Resolution 181, dividing Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.
According to diplomats here, the State Department plans to announce only “in the last minutes” that Arafat received a visa to avoid lengthy debate and pressure from various groups, mostly Jewish, who strongly oppose Arafat’s visit.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Charles Redman said Tuesday that “absolutely nothing has happened” regarding a decision to allow Arafat to come to the United States.
According to Redman, Arafat has not even formally applied for an entry visa. He said “any application would be given severe scrutiny.”
(JTA correspondent Howard Rosenberg in Washington contributed to this report.)
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