World : 1st Year of Bush Term Is Key: Arafat

Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat said today that the first year of President-elect Bush’s incoming Administration would be crucial for Middle East peace hopes.

Ending a two-day visit to Finland, Arafat said the new Administration’s main task would be to coax Israel toward an international Middle East peace conference. “You know that Israel is the naughty baby of the American Administration,” the PLO chief said at a news conference. “This year we can push forward with all our efforts to achieve peace. Next year the President of the United States will be busy with internal affairs.”