Arafat, Jordanian officials review ways of detente with Syria and Lebanon

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has asserted that there are no new developments in the current talks with Israel. He said the Palestinian side is "insistent on maintaining its right on the grounds of its solid position backed by signed resolutions and agreements."

This was expressed in a short statement Arafat made following talks he made with Jordanian Prime Minister Abdul Raouf al-Rawabdeh in Amman before concluding his visit to Jordan. The visit lasted for two days and dealt with various aspects pertaining to Jordanian- Palestinian relations.

Sources in Amman said that Arafat underwent medical checkups during his presence in Amman.

On the summit meeting which included Arafat and King Abdullah Bin Hussein of Jordan on Monday night, the Palestinian official in charge of the issue of refugees at the PLO, Asaad Abdul Rahman, said the two sides discussed the efforts to be made by Jordan to make a detente in the Palestinian relations both with Syria and Lebanon.

He stated that the Palestinian government is concerned with a tangible improvement in its relations with Syria and Lebanon so as to reach a joint coordination in the peace process in general and the causes of "destiny" in particular, especially the question of the refugees and the final status.

In Damascus, the former chairman of the opposition Palestinian National Council, Khaled al-Fahoum, said that resuming Israeli-Syrian negotiations will not affect the "currently stalemated " Palestinian track. He added that the progress on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks in the negotiations with Israel "backs the united Arab backing for the PLO in its demands towards Israel." He continued that the matters dealt with by the final status negotiations are "complex and in need of a united Arab stand and international backing." He called on the Palestinians "not to doubt Syria's policy, because this will lead to further splits in the Palestinian and Arab lines."