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GV Governmental Building.
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GV. INT. Arafat (left) seated with Fahmy
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SV ZOOM INTO CU Arafat.
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SV ZOOM INTO CU Fahmy.
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GV Arafat and Fahmy talking.
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: The President of the Palestine Liberation Organisation Yasser Arafat was in Cairo, the Egyptian capital, on Thursday (16 May) for talks with Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy. He was accompanied by another member of the organisation, Said Kamal.

The talks followed the latest attempts by United States Secretary of State Dr. Henry Kissinger to achieve a settlement between Israel and Syria. Mr. Arafat made his visit to Cairo to find out where the Palestinians stand in the Kissinger peace plans.

The Arafat-Fahmy meeting followed the Ma'alot massacre in which 27 Israelis died, and the first of the reprisal strikes by Israeli Air Force jets. The toll following the air attacks is now 48 dead, with 164 wounded.

After the first raid, an Egyptian Government spokesman described it as a barbaric and organised operation, carried out, as it was, by regular troops.

SYNOPSIS: The man he hoped would be able to provide the answers was Egypt's Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy. However, there was no official statement after the talks.

Another prominent topic in talks was the Ma'alot raid and subsequent retaliatory air strikes over southern Lebanon by the Israelis. The Palestinian guerrilla raid on the Israeli town occurred the day before the talks, and Israel was launching the air strikes while the meeting was in session. The Egyptians have described the first Israeli attack as a barbaric and organised operation.