President of International Socialists supports Arafat

Former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, now President of International Socialist, has called on Tel Aviv to stop the siege of Yasser Arafat’s headquarters in Ramallah.

Mr. Guterres told Portuguese press agency LUSA that he had condemned the siege in a telephone conversation with Israeli defence Minister Ben Eliezer and had expressed his solidarity with Yasser Arafat, although hew had made it clear that he strongly opposed terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians.

Yasser Arafat replied that he was “deeply shocked” by the accusations made against him and his collaborators, while Ben Eliezer declared that he was in favour of a political solution to the crisis.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru