Arafat to arrive in Damascus by the end of this month

The London- based al-Hayat daily said in its today's issue that the chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat will visit Damascus in the last week of this month in a first official visit since the Oslo agreement in 1993.

President Bashar al-Assad will receive Arafat at the airport, where an official welcome will be made including playing the Palestinian national anthem. The Palestinian President will visit al-Qurdaha to recite verses of the holy Koran on the tomb of the late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.

Palestinian sources told al-Hayat that contacts have been made to " approve the idea of releasing a joint statement or a press statement including agreed upon points to coordinate between the two sides in the coming phase." Damascus expects that the Palestinian opposition organizations to meet with Arafat.

Today the Palestinian national alliance will hold a meeting to discuss an " official memorandum " to be handed to Arafat before his meeting .