Arafat, Assad Meet; Feud May Persist
Syrian President Hafez Assad and Chairman Yasser Arafat of the Palestine Liberation Organization met Monday for the first time since their split in 1983, but there were indications that they failed to resolve all differences in their feud.
“We made a big step forward, but it’s a long road,” said a Palestinian source after the three-hour, 40-minute meeting at the presidential palace.
The source said more PLO-Syrian meetings are required to resolve the complicated and bitter issues that have divided two of the Arab world’s most prominent leaders.
Syrian presidential press spokesman Gebran Khourieh read a brief communique noting that Arafat and Assad discussed “Arab and Palestinian affairs, particularly the uprising” in Israeli-occupied areas.
Their meeting in itself, however, was considered a powerful signal that both men felt compelled to appear willing to end their differences, now that the Palestinian uprising has refocused world attention on the Arab-Israeli dispute.
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