Iraq on Friday urged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat not to meet with US President Bill Clinton, whom it accused of wanting to harm the upcoming Islamic summit in Qatar.
"We want to see Yasser Arafat overcome the Zionist pressure and reject the call (by Clinton) to preserve the unity of his people and Palestinian fighters," an information ministry spokesman said.
"It's a call, similar to the one to take part in the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting just before the Arab summit, to try to interfere with the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) summit" scheduled for mid-November in Doha, he said.
Iraq said Thursday that it would work with other OIC member states to try to turn the summit over exclusively to the Palestinian issue.
Baghdad rejected the Sharm el-Sheikh summit and called for the Intifada, or uprising, to continue in the Palestinian territories.
A total of 140 people have died in four weeks of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians which has continued despite a ceasefire agreed at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, last week.
The White House said Tuesday that Clinton had proposed holding separate talks with Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in Washington, on condition that the two leaders initiate the agreements reached in Egypt.
In Gaza, a high-ranking Palestinian official said a meeting between Arafat and Clinton would take place at the beginning of November in Washington --BAGHDAD (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
