Palestinians take US plan to Arab leaders

JERUSALEM - Palestinian leaders, facing pressure from militants who favour escalating an uprising against Israel, are shuttling to neighbouring Arab countries to discuss a United States bid for a Middle East peace deal.

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat arrived in Tunis for talks and planned to go on to Morocco for more discussions, and Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat was to visit Amman for meetings with Jordanian officials.

Arafat's Fatah faction called yesterday for an escalation in the three-month-old intifada to mark the 36th anniversary of the group's foundation and usher in 2001 as the year of Palestinian independence. Last night six people were wounded in a shooting attack on an Israeli vehicle in the West Bank

Seeking to sway a doubting public, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak warned voters they would face war if his hawkish rival Ariel Sharon won impending elections.

Palestinians are still weighing their response to plans put forward by US President Bill Clinton last week that would reportedly give them sovereignty over the upper part of a key Jerusalem holy site and areas of east Jerusalem.

In return, they would accept a restriction on the right of return for refugees who fled or were forced to leave their homes in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, while Israel would keep control over west Jerusalem and the lower part of the holy site.

Adding pressure on Palestinians, Israeli media reported that Clinton spoke to Arafat by telephone on Saturday to urge a Palestinian response to his proposal by Thursday.

A Palestinian official said Palestinian delegates were due to hold talks soon with US officials in Washington, following failed talks between Israeli minister Amnon Lipkin-Shahak and Palestinian parliamentarian Ahmed Korei.

Western diplomats warned of a stand-off between the Palestinians and the US over the details of the plan. Palestinians want more information before accepting it as a blueprint for a deal, and say they will give their verdict only after receiving clarifications.

A combative Barak said he would triumph over Sharon despite polls that suggest the Likud Party leader would trounce him in a special February 6 prime ministerial ballot. "I will win this election," Barak told Russian state television. "I don't want to put Sharon off peace, but [it's] Barak or war."

In Damascus the radical Marxist Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine urged Arafat to give arms to all Palestinians.

- 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