Curtail Israel Trade, Arafat Warns Japan

Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, told Japan bluntly Monday that it should curtail its trade with Israel.

Arafat was asked to comment frankly on Japan’s relations with the PLO, and he surprised a group of 100 guests at a question-and-answer session at the Foreign Ministry by saying: “You like frankness? I’ll give you some frankness.”

Then he went on to say: “Recently, trade relations between Japan and Israel have expanded. Have you forgotten the 200 million Arabs and the friends of the 200 million Arabs in the world? Do you know how much of the oil you import comes from the Arab world?

“It is not necessary for you to think of our interests. Think of your own interests.”

One of three Japanese professors who questioned Arafat remarked: “Compared with zero, trade with Israel has increased. But it remains very small.”

Foreign Ministry officials had no comment.

Last year, trade between Israel and Japan, where many large corporations adhere to an Arab-initiated boycott on commercial relations with Israel, rose to about $1.2 billion. This compares with $400 million in 1985. Japan now ranks third behind the United States and Britain among Israel’s trading partners.

Arafat’s outburst came as a surprise. He was here at the government’s invitation, and the government had just announced, coincidentally with his visit, that PLO representatives in Tokyo would be recognized as a mission rather than an office. France and Italy accorded similar status to the PLO earlier this year.

Although Japan stopped short of recognizing Palestine as a nation, the twin steps gave a measure of diplomatic prestige to Arafat and the PLO, which proclaimed the new state of Palestine last year.

A Japanese diplomat, who asked not to be identified by name, said the government took the steps in order to “show our appreciation . . . for the PLO’s declaration to renounce terrorism and recognize the right of Israel to exist.”

‘Very Limited Time’

He said that “we have the view that Chairman Arafat has very limited time” to strengthen his hand within the PLO against radicals urging a return to terrorism.

In 1981, when Arafat made his first and only previous visit to Japan, the government rejected his demand that it extend an official invitation. Instead, the Parliamentary League for Japan-Palestine Friendship served as host. On that occasion, Arafat met both the prime minister and the foreign minister, the first time he had been received by the leaders of any U.S. ally.

This time, too, he is to meet Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu and Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama.

The Japanese diplomat said that Kaifu would tell Arafat that Japan will increase its economic aid to Palestinians, which is dispensed through the United Nations.

The diplomat said that his government is “watching with great interest” what interplay there might be between Arafat’s meeting in Tokyo and the meeting in Washington on Monday between President Bush and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt.

In his appearance at the Foreign Ministry, Arafat insisted that Mubarak’s recent 10-point initiative on election procedures in the territories occupied by Israel and on a direct dialogue between Israel and the PLO was not a set of proposals.

“These are not 10 proposals,” Arafat said. “They are 10 questions (that Israel) is required to answer under terms of the 1978 Camp David Agreement,” which resulted in a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. “The Israeli government is trying to evade the issue by calling them proposals rather than inquiries,” he said.

Arafat said that “Mubarak told me he had received no answer” from Israel.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said the government welcomed Arafat to Japan as chairman of the PLO, not as president of the self-proclaimed state of Palestine.