US denies visa to Arafat

1988 - The Soviet Union joined growing international criticism of a US decision to prevent Palestine Liberation Organisation Chairman Yasser Arafat from addressing a session of the United Nations in New York. Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennady Gerasimov told a briefing that the State Department’s refusal to give Arafat a US entry visa to speak at the UN General Assembly was “viewed in Moscow as an unconstructive and illegal step.”