Report: Egypt arranges summit between al-Assad, Arafat

The Jordanian daily al-Arab al-Youm quoted an official source at the Egyptian Foreign Ministry as saying that the Egyptian political leadership is making contacts in preparation for convening a Syrian- Palestinian summit between Syrian President Hafez al-Assad and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

The Jordanian paper quoted the source as saying in a statement that the summit expected to take place in Cairo during the coming days, adding that the Syrian- Palestinian summit, with the participation of Egypt, will preceed the Arab agreement on the date set for the expected plenary Arab summit.

The paper said the efforts made by Cairo to arrange this meeting between President al-Assad and Arafat comes at the initiative of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to purify Arab atmospheres, unify Arab ranks and liquidate arising disputes in the viewpoints between the Syrian and Palestinian leadership in order to convene the plenary Arab summit which is currently winning unanimous Arab agreement for a good preparation for such a summit.