Mending Fences

Chairman Yasser Arafat has been to Saudi Arabia for his long-sought-after audience with King Fahd. The Palestinian leader's visit was preceded by some careful diplomatic soundings in the Kingdom by senior PLO officials, to make sure that Arafat's effort to restore relations would not be premature and that the slice of humble pie that Chairman Yasser would have to consume would not be too large and indigestible. It was widely and publicly understood that the PLO leader was expected to apologise for the ghastly political mistake he had made in supporting Saddam Hussein and Iraq in the Gulf war.