On Arafat's visit to Damascus

Member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization PLO Abdul Rahim Mallouh has announced that the visit of the chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat to Syria was postponed because of the contradiction and duplication in the timing between Arafat and President Bashar al-Assad who was in a visit to Spain.

In a statement to the Lebanese daily al-Mustaqbal ( the future ) issued on Wednesday, Mallouh added that " the Syrian brothers want a Palestinian delegation to come in advance in order to prepare for this visit."

He continued that this issue will be settled within a short period of time because visits between the two sides are valid and Palestinian- Syrian relations are considered as of joint interests and therefore any impeding obstacles to this end should be addressed and eliminated.