ARAB AFFAIRS - May 5 - Maher Meets Arafat.

Egyptian FM Ahmad Maher, accompanied by Osama Baz, a senior adviser to Egyptian Pres. Hosni Mubarak, meets Arafat in his Ramallah compound. (Maher is the first senior Arab official to meet Arafat since Israel lifted the siege of his compound on May 1 - see last week's Recorder). Maher says: "We are here declaring that we support President Arafat and the Palestinian people in their mission to achieve their goals". He says Israeli troops must withdraw to their lines before March 29, when Israel launched its offensive in response to a series of suicide bombings, before there could be any talk of a peace conference. He adds: "The Palestinian Authority and its president must not be excluded from this conference, in which all the Arab countries concerned - Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon - must take part. Nobody can put in doubt the legitimacy of the Palestinian Authority or that of Mr. Arafat as elected president at the head of this authority".