Arafat is expected to visit Damascus, Beirut paper says

The London based weekly al- Muharrir News quoted well-informed Palestinian sources as saying in Amman on Friday that the Palestinian President Yasser Arafat may hold two official visits to each of Damascus and Beirut after a 16 year of cold relations between him and the two states who gave him haven together with all his people and military forces.

The source added that each of Damascus and Beirut also adopted his revolution since its very beginning, noting that such a sanctuary ended with Arafat's signing of the Oslo agreements with the Israelis.

The sources added that Arafat wants to thank the Syrian and Lebanese governments to once again permit the Palestinian refugees in Lebanon the rights of leaving or entering the Lebanese territories, but nothing is known about Damascus stand towards this visit.