Arafat Decries Dealers’ Deaths

NEW YORK —  Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat denies involvement in the recent killings of several Arab land dealers who allegedly sold property to Jews, and condemns such violence in an interview to be published today.

Arafat appears to contradict his justice minister, Freih abu Medeen, who said last month that Arabs who sell land to Jews deserve the death penalty.

But Arafat told Newsweek magazine that the three slayings were carried out “by unknown persons. . . . We are absolutely against anyone taking the law into his own hands.”