The World - News from Nov. 23, 1988

The State Department described as “sheer fabrication” reports that the United States has agreed to give a visa to Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat so he can address the United Nations next month. It said that Arafat has not even made a valid visa application. The denial came after Arafat, speaking in Cairo, said Egyptian leaders had said the United States would grant him a visa to speak to the U.N. on Dec. 6-7 about the recent proclamation of an independent Palestinian state by the PLO’s parliament in exile. The Reagan Administration is under pressure from pro-Israel members of Congress and U.S. Jewish groups to deny Arafat the use of the United Nations as a forum.