Israel agrees, Palestinians hedge

JERUSALEM - Israel has accepted - with conditions - United States President Bill Clinton's blueprint for a final peace treaty with the Palestinians, despite the Palestinian Authority's apparent objections to the proposals.

The conflicting stances raised doubts over whether Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak will go to Egypt later today for a summit with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and possibly Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.

Barak last night cancelled talks with Mubarak planned for early today to discuss the US proposal.

But an Israeli diplomatic source said the Egyptian and Israeli leaders would speak after a summit between Mubarak and Arafat and that a late-night meeting could still take place at the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Barak's office said after a security cabinet meeting that Israel viewed Clinton's ideas "as a basis for discussion provided that they remain unchanged as a basis for discussion also by the Palestinian side."

It added that it would request clarification from Washington on several issues related to Israel's vital interests.

The Israeli response came after the Palestinians sent an ambiguous letter to Washington that reportedly neither accepted nor rejected Clinton's suggestions for resolving crucial issues such as Jerusalem, Jewish settlements and Palestinian refugees.

The authority's letter raised concerns with key elements of the plan. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said a final response would depend on US clarifications.

Clinton told reporters the sides were closer than ever to an agreement and urged Barak and Arafat to "seize this opportunity."

Palestinians expressed deep reservations over Clinton's plan, and one official said the letter sent to the US "avoided the issue of rejection or acceptance of the proposals."

Barak's security cabinet gave conditional approval to the plan, 10 ministers voting in favour, two against and two abstaining.

An Israeli diplomatic source said Army chief Shaul Mofaz attended the late-night cabinet meeting and raised objections to several clauses in Clinton's proposal.

The source, who declined to be named, said Mofaz specifically criticised the security arrangements for the West Bank's Jordan Valley. He felt Israel would be required to withdraw its forces too quickly.

Clinton's proposal capped five days of Washington talks held against a background of fierce Israeli-Palestinian fighting in which at least 343 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed.

No deaths have been reported for four days, a rarity in the weeks of violence, although Palestinian gunmen and Israeli soldiers exchanged fire in the West Bank and Gaza yesterday.

A meeting between Arafat and the Executive Committee of the PLO to weigh Clinton's proposal ended with a statement reiterating "the commitment to the Palestinian positions expressed since the Camp David summit," which collapsed in failure last July.

"We have reservations over the whole American paper," said senior Palestinian negotiator Yasser Abed Rabbo.

"We cannot accept it because accepting it would endanger our national destiny and would represent a danger for the future of every Palestinian child for many generations to come."

Erekat said any vagueness in the US proposals "may lead to an explosion later on." That was why the agreement "requires above everything details, details, details."

Abed Rabbo said the proposals were "worse than what has been presented to us in Camp David. So how could we accept this?"

He said one of the Palestinian concerns was that under the deal Israel would hold as much as 10 per cent of the West Bank and Palestinians would not have full control of East Jerusalem and its holy shrines.

Another concern was the plan's failure to address the right to return of refugees who fled their homes when Israel was established in 1948, he said.

Israeli cabinet minister Shimon Peres said: "It is the best offer they [the Palestinians] have ever had."

- REUTERS

Herald Online feature: Middle East

Backgrounder: Holy city in grip of past

Map

Middle East Daily

Arabic News

Arabic Media Internet Network

Jerusalem Post

Israel Wire

US Department of State - Middle East Peace Process