Palestinian official denies President Bush to have refused to receive Arafat

The local rule official at the Palestinian Authority Saeb Oreikat has denied news that the US President had refused to receive the chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat at the White House or to have requested the halting of the Palestinian Intifada.

In a telephone call with the Israeli radio on Friday, Oreikat stressed that the US position at the UN security Council which opposes dispatching UN forces to protect the Palestinian people falls in the framework of the traditional US policy which is biased to Israel.