WASHINGTON, Feb 8: The United States opposes a French and European proposal for elections in the Palestinian territories to give the winner a mandate to talk peace, a State Department official said on Friday.

The official said Washington believed the emphasis should remain on persuading Palestinian President Yasser Arafat to crack down on organizations that attack Israelis.

He said Arafat also should comply with a US demand that he provide an explanation for the ship that Israeli forces seized in the Red Sea on Jan 3. Israel alleges the ship was carrying weapons from Iran to Gaza.

“We don’t think that efforts that divert attention away from these critical objectives are useful at this time,” said the US official, citing language approved in the State Department.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine put the election proposal to US Secretary of State Colin Powell last week, but Powell was not at all enthusiastic, another official said.—Reuters