Arafat abruptly leaves Mideast for Bulgaria

Yasser Arafat has changed course again. The Palestine Liberation Organization leader left Tunis unexpectedly and headed for a 48-hour official visit to Bulgaria, the Tunisian news agency said. His surprise departure from Tunisia altered plans for a key PLO leadership meeting he was expected to chair here to discuss Palestinian-Jordanian relations.

The PLO hopes the collapse of talks between King Hussein of Jordan and PLO chief Yasser Arafat will persuade the United States to recognize Palestinian rights to self-determination, Monitor contributor James Dorsey reports. The committee was expected to discuss again President Reagan's Mideast peace proposals and efforts to revive the Hussein-Arafat talks, PLO sources said. But for the moment, Mr. Arafat's departure from Tunis has delayed efforts to renew those talks.