Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat, hobnobbing with the diplomatic elite here Tuesday, made clear that whoever represents the Palestinians at the peace conference in Madrid next week will be representing the PLO.
“No one can hide the sun with his fingers,” Arafat said. “Any Palestinian anywhere is a member of the PLO.”
Arafat had meetings here with French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas and Soviet Foreign Minister Boris Pankin. The Soviet Union will cohost the peace conference with the United States.
Speaking on television, the PLO leader said he was ready to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir. Shamir was in the country Tuesday addressing members of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
“Like Charles de Gaulle said, one has at the end to make peace, the peace of the brave. But there are no de Gaulles in Israel,” Arafat said, adding that he is willing to make the best of what there is.
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.
