Shultz Stands by His Decision to Bar Arafat

Secretary of State George P. Shultz today said he was right to deny PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat a visa to address the United Nations and he will stand by the decision despite a storm of international criticism.

“I think it was the right decision,” Shultz said. “I stick by it.”

Shultz said his decision would not deny Palestinians the ability to speak for themselves at the United Nations and added, “We want to hear what they have to say.”

He also said the United States will attend a special General Assembly session on the Palestinian question if Arab countries succeed as expected in moving it to Geneva so that Arafat can speak.

“We will always be in our chair wherever the United Nations meets,” Shultz said.

He spoke at a ceremony marking construction of a new National Foreign Affairs Training Center across the Potomac River from Washington.

Shultz said he is sorry his decision had been criticized around the world, even by some of America’s allies, but added that he was not surprised.

‘I Wasn’t Surprised’

“I’d have to say I wasn’t surprised,” he said. “I thought about it very carefully.

“To some extent the opposition suggests how important it was to decide what was decided and to make it so clear what the basis was--the basis being our concern about terrorism.

“I’m afraid that it’s too easy for people to forget what an important problem that is and what a threat it is to civilized society.”

Arafat had wanted to address a U.N. General Assembly debate on Palestine in New York on Thursday.

Shultz said in a statement Saturday that Arafat would not be allowed into the country because “PLO elements have engaged in terrorism against Americans and others.”

The decision touched off a storm of protest around the world, with the Soviet Union and much of Western Europe joining in. Israel and some Jewish organizations, and more than half of the U.S. Senate, supported the action.

The Soviet Union and numerous other countries said the decision violated the 1947 pact setting up U.N. headquarters in New York, a point also made by U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar and General Assembly President Dante Caputo.