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TEL AVIV, Dec 23: Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has drafted an interim peace plan for a Palestinian state and presented the proposal to Palestinian leaders, Israel’s biggest newspaper reported on Sunday.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s office, however, dismissed the reported plan as fiction. A statement issued by Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said the reported proposals fell far short of the state Palestinians envisioned.
Despite the cold water poured on the purported plan, its apparent leak to the newspaper suggested that senior leaders from both sides may be looking past Israeli-Palestinian violence now in its 15th month towards a permanent peace deal.
The Yedioth Ahronoth daily said Peres has proposed that a Palestinian state be established on 42 per cent of the West Bank and most of the Gaza Strip no later than two months after the interim deal is signed, followed by talks on a final accord.
Peres made no immediate comment after the report appeared in the newspaper.
Abed Rabbo, referring to the patchwork of territory now under the control of the Palestinian Authority, said in the statement the reported plan would only “transform the names of the cantons and isolated areas from an Authority to a state”.
Palestinians would “remain under a de facto occupation, but under an illusive cover called a ‘state’”, the statement added.
Palestinians have demanded a state in all of the West Bank, including Arab East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
By recognizing Israel as most Palestinians did in the 1993 Oslo accords, they have yielded some 77 per cent of mandated Palestine stretching from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River — a big concession in Palestinian eyes which militants refuse to accept.
The Israeli perception is different. In two wars forced on it, in 1948 and 1967, Israel conquered the entire area, so handing back land occupied since 1967 — effectively the West Bank and Gaza — is seen by many Israelis as more than generous.
Yedioth Ahronoth published on its front page what it said was a photo of one of the pages of the peace proposal which it reported Peres drafted with Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmed Korei, also known as Abu Ala.
FOUR MAIN POINTS: The plan, as reported in Yedioth Ahronoth, listed four main points:
* A ceasefire within six weeks including a Palestinian crackdown on “terrorism”, the lifting of Israeli blockades on Palestinian areas, a freeze in construction at Jewish settlements and an end to Israeli killings of militants.
* Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state and Palestinian recognition of Israel on the basis of UN land-for-peace resolutions within eight weeks.
* The start within nine to 12 months of talks on a final peace accord on issues such as a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and the future of Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees and settlements. The agreement, once completed, would be implemented within 18 to 24 months.
* Both sides will discuss international peacekeepers and financial aid for the Palestinians as well as regional economic cooperation.
SHARON: The newspaper said the plan was worked out with Sharon’s knowledge.
But in its statement, the Prime Minister’s Office said: “The report...is baseless and fictitious and raising it at all causes serious damage to Israel.”
The statement added that before any peace talks, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat had to arrest “terrorists and their accomplices”, collect all illegal weapons, dismantle the infrastructure of “terrorist organizations and arrest their leaders”.—Reuters
