Arafat is still to visit Syria

A high ranking Palestinian official told the Jordanian weekly al-Hadath in its recent issue that the visit of Arafat to Damascus is still on the schedule. However, Syria, Arab and international recommendation to Arafat asked him to postpone this visit because the current conditions on the Palestinian territories do not serve this visit.

The Palestinian official indicated Palestinian intelligence information as saying that Sharon is waiting such a visit ( by Arafat to Syria) in order to justify his " coming bloody practices under the pretext that Arafat and President Bashar al-Assad are seeking to stabilize the Israeli security through the Hizbullah on the northern borders and the Intifada inside the Palestinian territories, besides Sharon's efforts to get Iran involved in the crisis Israel has been witnessing ( the Intifada).