Situation in the OPT – SecGen communication with Arafat – Press release

ON SECOND DAY IN JAPAN, SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS OFFICIALS OF RULING,
OPPOSITION PARTIES, DISCUSSES JAPAN'S SUPPORT FOR UNITED NATIONS

Also Speaks by Phone with Palestinian Leader Yasser Arafat

(Received from the Spokesman travelling with the Secretary-General.)

TOKYO,  4  April —  

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During the course of the day the Secretary-General spoke by telephone with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who descried the serious deterioration of the situation in the West Bank and Gaza, following the Israeli Government's closure of the territories.  The Secretary-General has submitted Mr. Arafat's recent letter to him on the subject to both the General Assembly and the Security Council.  The Secretary-General had  also written last week to Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres urging him to consider lifting, at least gradually, the closure of Gaza and the West Bank.  A prolonged closure, he said, may create a climate of frustration in the territories in which the ability of the Palestinian Authority to combat terrorism and to work constructively with the Government of Israel to that end could be seriously hampered.

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