Palestinian guerrilla chief Yasser Arafat and Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam were negotiating indirectly Tuesday on the possibility of a Saudi Arabian-sponsored Arab summit meeting, diplomats said.
The meeting, which had been scheduled for November in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, has been put off several times because of Syria’s refusal to take part if Arafat attended.
When Saudi Arabian Prince Abdullah Ibn Abdel Aziz came to Algiers Jan. 22, he reportedly asked Algeria to act as an intermediary between the two.
Diplomats said Khaddam arrived in Algiers Monday morning while Arafat and a Palestine Liberation Organization delegation flew in Monday night at the invitation of Algeria.
In view of the continuing hostility between them, diplomats judged it highly unlikely that Khaddam and Arafat would meet directly. The diplomats said they believed the two sides were holding ‘proximity talks’ in separate rooms with Algerian officials shuttling between them.
Algerian officials declined to say whether the two sides were communicating directly or indirectly.
Relations between Arafat and Syrian President Hafez Assad deteriorated in June 1983 when Arafat accused Assad of supporting a rebellion of his mainstream Fatah group in the PLO.
Syria expelled the Palestinian leader and pro-Arafat Palestinians fought pro-Syrian Palestinians in north Lebanon.
