Arafat asks al-Assad to support the Palestinians in the Summit

Chairman of the Palestinian authority Yasser Arafat sent a message to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad asking for Syria's backing to the Palestinian case upon the convening of the Arab summit in Tunis, according to Palestinian sources in Damascus.

The Syrian Foreign minister Farouk al-Shara got the message from the minister of culture in the Palestinian authority Yahya Yakhlaf. The Syrian official news agency SANA said that the meeting dealt with the "continued Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people, especially the recent ugly crime which targeted Sheikh Ahmad Yassin."

Al-Shara stressed the " importance of enhancing the Palestinian national unity which is considered the basic guarantee for the steadfastness of the Palestinians so as to achieve their objectives to attaining legitimate national rights."

Chairman of the Palestinian salvation front Khaled al-Fahoum said that Yahya Yakhlaf conveys a message from Arafat to al-Assad asking the " support of the Syrian leadership to supporting the Palestinian question especially before the next Arab summit " and that Arafat wants to say " we have only Syria" in this regard.