The White House on Sunday refused to confirm whether Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would be coming to Washington Thursday for talks with President Bill Clinton.
"We have no comment," press officers for the president said in Little Rock, where Clinton was campaigning over the weekend.
Earlier Sunday, a close adviser to Arafat confirmed that the Palestinian leader planned to be in Washington on Thursday for a meeting with Clinton.
"President Arafat will be in Washington to accept the invitation of President Clinton to discuss the peace process and the crisis that is affecting the entire region," the adviser, Nabil Abou Roudeina, told AFP.
He said Arafat would stay two days in the United States, during which he would meet other officials of the US administration.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak said Saturday he would also travel to see Clinton once Arafat agreed to go, and a senior Israeli official told AFP Sunday that Barak is scheduled to meet Clinton November 12 in Washington.
As currently envisioned, Clinton would meet separately with the two leaders and attempt to persuade them to implement a series of ceasefire agreements reached between the two sides, and to find the path to renew the deadlocked peace talks -- LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas, (AFP)
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