Arafat wants another Madrid conference against Sharon's plan: sources

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, January 14, 2004

Arafat wants another Madrid conference against Sharon's plan: sources

A Palestinian official said on Tuesday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's proposal to hold a second Madrid conference is aimed at halting Israel's disengagement plans.

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A Palestinian official said on Tuesday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's proposal to hold a second Madrid conference is aimed at halting Israel's disengagement plans. Palestinian foreign ministry spokesman Sufyan Abu Zayda told reporters that "President Arafat's proposal aims at preventing Israel from implementing its disengagement plans from Palestinians,which Israel said it would be implemented within six months."

Abu Zayda said that the idea of holding a conference similar to the Madrid conference held in 1992, which had put an end to the first Intifada (Uprising) in 1987, has not been formally considered yet.

Palestinian sources reported recently that Arafat was holding talks and discussions with a number of dignitaries and advisors in order to work out a new peace initiative.

The sources said that the initiative calls for holding another international conference, similar to the Madrid conference, upon which the Oslo agreements signed in 1993 were based.

This conference would work on launching final status negotiations between Israel and Palestinians, as well as ending themounting violence between the two sides, the sources said.

Arafat has also called for a meeting of the Palestine LiberationOrganization (PLO) central committee to discuss the final wording of the initiative in order to be presented and ratified by the ArabSummit, due to be held next March in Tunis, they added.

Source: Xinhua

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