WORLD : Arafat Seeks Visa to Attend U.N. Meeting; No U.S. Decision Yet

Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization, is seeking permission to attend an emergency U.N. Security Council session in New York, but U.S. officials said today that no decision has been made on granting him a visa.

Arafat made an indirect request for an entry visa in a letter to U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar, expecting that it would be passed on to the State Department, which denied him a visa two years ago for a similar Mideast debate.

U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said no decision had been made. They said the situation is “hypothetical” because he has not made a formal request. It could remain so if the State Department passes word back to the PLO that the visa request would be denied.

If Arafat is allowed to attend the U.N. session in New York, it would elevate the PLO’s stature at a time when Israel is under pressure for using force to try to stem a violent uprising by Palestinian Arabs on the West Bank and in Gaza.

When the Reagan Administration declined to let Arafat attend a U.N. General Assembly session in November, 1988, the debate was shifted to Geneva. A month later, in a reversal of policy, the Administration opened talks with the PLO.