Arafat refuses to postpone declaration of a Palestinian state

Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa on Tuesday said that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat on Tuesday refused during his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to delay the declaration of the Palestinian state set for May 4.

In a press statement Moussa said that Arafat hears and receives several messages, stances and analysis pertaining to the announcement of the Palestinian state but he (Arafat) sees that the question of the Palestinian state as unquestionable.

"We find this opinion is quite true," Moussa commented.

But Arafat confined his statement to saying upon leaving Cairo on Tuesday that his meeting with President Mubarak dealt with measures scheduled for the May 4 date of terminating the provisional phase and the position to be taken by the Palestinian Authority.