Arafat, Assad, and Hrawi to meet

A member of the Executive committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization Saad Abdel Rahman said that an imminent summit will be held between Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, Lebanese President Elias Hrawi and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. The Palestinian official added that contacts are underway to fix the date of this summit.

Palestinian Minister of Planning Nabil Shaath said that the Israel Premier Benjamin Netanyahu is challenging the US administration before the meeting with the US President Bill Clinton on January 20 by imposing new conditions for resuming peace negotiations.

The Palestinian Minister of Information Yaser Abd Rabou said that Netanyahu's position will lead the US efforts to an impasse.

Israel recently started to harden its stances toward the peace process which complicated the mediation efforts exerted by the US envoy to the peace process Dennis Ross.