State Dept. Welcomes Arafat Statement
WASHINGTON — The State Department on Monday welcomed a statement by Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat criticizing a call by an Iranian leader for terrorist actions against Westerners.
Deputy spokesman Richard Boucher said Arafat’s statement Sunday was consistent with the PLO’s renunciation of terrorism and the U.S. understanding that the PLO would denounce terrorism wherever it occurs.
Speaking at a news conference in Tunis, Tunisia, Arafat said, “I reject this call in its totality.”
On Friday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Hashemi Rafsanjani called for five Britons, French or Americans to be killed for every Palestinian killed in the Gaza Strip or West Bank by the Israeli army.
The State Department expressed outrage over Rafsanjani’s statement, and it was condemned by the British and French governments as well.
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