WORLD : Arafat Brands Shamir ‘Mr. No’

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat labeled Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir as “Mr. No” today and turned down his proposal for elections in the occupied territories.

He told a news conference at the end of a two-day visit to Poland that Shamir had rejected all peace proposals, and Palestinians had no interest in holding elections under the guns of Israeli troops.

“Since ‘Mr. No’ doesn’t accept any peace proposals, I ask what would you say about elections under occupation? I say ‘yes’ to elections but only after the end of the occupation,” he said.

Arafat said he was cutting short his Polish visit by several hours to fly to Morocco for an unscheduled meeting with King Hassan. He gave no further details.