Arab leaders step up effort to ease PLO rift

Arab leaders intensified efforts to mediate in the Palestinian guerrilla mutiny against Yasser Arafat. But diplomats and other seasoned followers of Palestinian affairs were doubtful of the result. Mr. Arafat himself returned to Damascus to confer with Palestinian leaders.

Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah visited Damascus Wednesday, while press reports in the Gulf Thursday said Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia, was also heading for the Syrian capital.

Jordan's King Hussein discussed the mutiny with King Fahd of Saudi Arabia and Iraq's President Saddam Hussein by telephone late Wednesday, Jordan's Petra news agency said.