Arafat concludes Arab and international tour, prepares for a decision on declaration

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has asserted that statements by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday that Israel will continue Jewish settlement in the Palestinian territories violate all signed agreements between the two sides.

Following his return from an Arab and international tour, Arafat said in an arrival statement in Gaza to reporters that leaders of the countries he visited stressed their backing to the rights of the Palestinian people to the establishment of their own independent state.

On the request made by most of the countries he visited to postpone the declaration of the Palestinian state to a later date, Arafat has confined himself to saying that the leading Palestinians sides which will meet at the end of the current month will take the final decision on this issue.

Arafat added that he still has another tour to carry out in order to follow up on discussions and consultations with "friendly countries."