NATO Offers New Status To Russia

NATO agreed yesterday to offer Russia a special partnership following Moscow's reluctance to sign the ``Partnership for Peace'' scheme and its increasingly anti-Western line, alliance sources said.

The alliance agreed that a special partnership with Russia, which could include extra consultations on European security issues, was needed to ``take into account its size and weight,'' one NATO source says.

In addition, NATO agreed that Partnership members would have the right to know the full details of any special arrangement between the alliance and Russia. The source also said there would be no question of giving Russia any veto over NATO decisions. Arafat confirms `Jihad'remark

PALESTINE Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat yesterday confirmed that he had called for a jihad (holy war) for Jerusalem. But he says he was speaking in a religious sense only.

Appearing at a ceremony with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Oslo to honor Norway for its help in mediating the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, the PLO chairman acknowledged that he had appealed for a jihad during a speech in Johannesburg, South Africa, on May 10.

Mr. Peres appeared to accept Mr. Arafat's explanation. Peres shook Arafat's hand and sat down next to him.