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Persistent as ever, Thatcher, Mitterrand, Mubarak and Hussein were back on the White House telephones urging Reagan to reassess the speech. Using a colorful metaphor, Mubarak told Shultz that Arafat had already taken off his shirt and that the U.S. was asking for his trousers.
Sweden's Andersson and Egypt's Foreign Minister Esmat Abdel-Meguid told Shultz they still had a shot at persuading Arafat to take the required extra steps. In Geneva, Abdel-Meguid carried his plea personally to Arafat when the two dined together on Tuesday night. In Geneva, U.S. Ambassador Vernon Walters was asked by Momammad Said, a Palestinian-American adviser to Arafat, what Arafat must do to satisfy the U.S. "Just tell him to say in public what he said in private," replied Walters. Said passed this along. Andersson resumed his delicate persuasion, meeting twice with Arafat. The Arab moderates -- Egypt, Jordan and Iraq -- also pressed him to try once more to clarify his views.
Finally, all the pressure paid off. A jaunty and jovial Arafat strode into a conference room in the Palais des Nations on Wednesday night (afternoon in Washington) to face 800 reporters. He put on his spectacles and read a statement in English. This time he accepted Resolutions 242 and 338 without coupling them with demands for Palestinian independence. He specifically named the state of Israel as having the right "to exist in peace and security." Most significantly, he declared, "We totally and absolutely renounce all forms of terrorism, including individual, group and state terrorism."
"Enough is enough," Arafat told reporters. Then, in an apparent reference to Mubarak's metaphor, he added, "What do you want? Do you want me to striptease?" At last, his dance of many veils was a hit.