Arabs Push for U.N. Move to Geneva

UNITED NATIONS--Arab nations said yesterday the General Assembly session will move to Geneva so PLO chief Yasser Arafat can address it, unless the United States reverses itself within 48 hours and grants him a visa.

In Washington, the State Department said the U.S. decision to deny the visa was "firm and final." But it said it would not stand in the way of moving the debate on Palestinian issues which is scheduled to begin Thursday.

U.N. legal counsel Carl-August Fleischhauer told a U.N. committee the United States was violating the 1947 U.S.-U.N. Headquarters Agreement, which requires the host country to grant visas to people invited by the United Nations.

"I am of the opinion that the host country was and is under an obligation to grant the visa request of the chairman of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, an organization which has been granted observer status by the general Assembly," Fleischhauer said.

"The agreement does not contain a reservation of the right to bar the entry of those who represent, in the view of the host country, a threat to its sovereignty and security," the lawyer added. His conclusion was disputed by U.S. officials.

The U.N. Committee on Relations with the Host Country, which Fleischhauer addressed, also heard other speakers condemn the U.S. decision. The chairman, Ambassador Constantine Moushoutas of Cyprus, said in a summation "the vast majority" of speakers felt the United States had violated the Headquarters Agreement, but the committee took no action.

Arab diplomats called the U.S. visa denial a "slap in the face" and a violation of the agreement.

The Soviet Union and China, and U.S. allies Britain and France, told Moushoutas' committee Arafat should be allowed to speak. Most nations urged Washington to reconsider, saying the U.S. action was harming prospects for peace in the Middle East.

The PLO's U.N. observer, Zuhdi Labib Terzi, complained, "We have a message of peace that we want to bring to the General Assembly through Chairman Arafat. The United States is imposing some obstacles that would impede easy access, so we have to do it somewhere else."

"The decision [to move to Geneva] is already taken by Arab countries and the PLO that the U.N. debate on Palestine and the Middle East should be done in a more hospitable country which abides by its obligations," the PLO envoy told reporters.