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TGV Demonstrators with banners marching along street (2 shots)
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SV Demonstrators holding banners
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TGV PAN Demonstrators in groups with banners along street
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TGV Demonstrators chanting in square (2 shots)
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DEMONSTRATORS WITH BANNERS IN STREET: CHANTING DEMONSTRATORS: VARIOUS SHOTS OF RALLY.




Initials CL/2350 2130/2240/0006



Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: Amid reports of an imminent Arab mini-summit on differences over the recent Egyptian-Israeli peace agreement, Palestinian refugees staged a rally on Thursday (2 October) on the outskirts of Damascus, at the Yarmuk Refugee Camp, against the peace accord.

The same day as the rally took place Syrian Government officials said that they had no knowledge of any mini-summit, and that the subject had not been discussed.

The first report of a major meeting to discuss differences between Arab states on the recent peace agreement, appeared in the Jordanian weekly newspaper, "Al Liwa", published in Amman earlier this week.

The newspaper quoted Arab diplomatic sources as saying that a mini-summit in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh was "almost certain" to be held shortly to discuss inter Arab differences on the peace agreement.

At the rally in Damascus, President Sadat came in for bitter criticism from Palestinian refugees. Banners labelled him traitor to the Arab cause. The United States Secretary of State, Doctor Henry Kissinger, was labelled a "double agent". the refugees shouted slogans against the agreement and "defeatism".

Meanwhile, Syrian officials said that Syria found no use in pursuing talks with other states on the recent peace accord because the agreement made it impossible for such meetings to take place.

The Syrian Peoples Council -- the nation's Parliament -- has rejected and denounced the agreement, saying it represented a defeatist stand. The Council said that it undermined the "joint struggle of the Syrian and Egyptian peoples".

It criticised the accord for "failing to refer to the rights of the Palestinian people while providing Israel with a greater opportunity to direct al its military and economic resources against other Arab fronts."