Yasir Arafat is expected to arrive here next Wednesday to discuss the Middle East peace process with United Nations Secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar.
The Palestine Liberation Organization leader, meanwhile, has written as “president of the State of Palestine” to the director general of the World Health Organization, asking that the U.N. body confer the status of sovereign state on Palestine.
American sources believe that the measure will pass when WHO holds its annual conference here on May 8.
Meanwhile, in a letter dated April 7, Arafat has formally asked the WHO director general, Hiroshi Nakajima, to officially recognize Palestine as a sovereign state.
WHO will have no choice but to bring this request to a vote during the assembly. And U.S. sources say that the motion will almost certainly pass because of the majority held by Third World countries in the international organization.
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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.
