PLO lawyers said that a deposition is impossible because of "constant demands on President Arafat's time in the ongoing peace process and the political consequences of giving a deposition for an American travel agency seeking damages for alleged and doubtful minor commercial losses," the Associated Press reported.

Stanton's ruling was issued in favor of Crown Travel of Union, N.J., which arranged the cruise. Crown, in turn, is being sued by the Klinghoffer family.

Arafat "was personally involv-ed in freeing the hostages and indeed boasted about his efforts in that regard," the travel agency argued.

Arafat has denied involvement in the hijacking. The PLO said those arrested "belonged to a Palestinian group that was hostile to President