Palestinian sources: Arafat canceled visit to Damascus

News reports quoted a Palestinian official in Amman as saying that the chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat decided to cancel his visit to Damascus which was due on Tuesday after Syria has decided to postpone this visit.

The Palestinian official, who asked not to be identified said that Arafat was at the airport ready to head for Damascus "when we were informed about Damascus's decision to postpone the visit and that Arafat decided to cancel it holding Syria responsible for this measure." He continued that Arafat was at Marka airport in Amman's suburb, noting that Abu Ammar's visit to Damascus was canceled.

The source did not explain if the Syrians had informed the Palestinians the reason behind this decision.

For his part, the planning official at the Palestinian authority Nabil Shaath said that Syria asked Arafat to postpone a visit that he was due to hold to Damascus Tuesday.

Shaath explained that Arafat was at Amman's airport prepared to head for Damascus to meet with President Bashar al- Assad when he received a request from the Syrians to postpone this visit.

Shaath who would have accompanied Arafat in his visit said that he does not know Syria's reason to postpone this visit.

Meantime, a source in the Syrian media said on Tuesday that the visit that Arafat was due to make to Syria on Tuesday was, once again, postponed.