|
|
 | Saturday, April 15, 2000, updated at 18:12(GMT+8) | ||||||||||||
|
World | ||||||||||||
|
Israel to Agree to a Palestinian Sate: Israel TVIsrael will agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state in a framework peace accord being negotiated with the Palestinians, Israel's Channel One Television reported on Friday in Jerusalem.Citing a senior source knowledgeable about the negotiations, the television said the framework deal would be finished by the end of May and "Israel will agree to the establishment of a demilitarised Palestinian state." It said the framework accord would not spell out the borders of the state which would be left to negotiations on a final treaty. Both sides say they want to seal by mid-September. No official comment on the report was available on Friday evening. Israel has started to concentrate on peace talks with the Palestinians again after reaching a virtual dead end with Syria and negotiating teams are working on the framework accord in talks at an airforce base near Washington. Barak met President Bill Clinton at the White House on Tuesday and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat is due to meet Clinton in Washington next week. Arafat has said he will declare a Palestinian state this year with or without a peace deal with Israel. Meanwhile, The United States said on Friday that Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams in Washington have exchanged papers outlining each sides' proposals for a framework peace accord. "The Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have engaged in intensive, serious and substantive discussions throughout the week," State Department spokesman James Rubin told reporters at a briefing. "During the course of these discussions, the two sides exchanged papers on this subject of how to create a skeleton for a framework agreement." Rubin said the exchange was intended to create a skeleton framework for a permanent peace accord. The papers, he said, contained "all the core elements needed for a framework agreement." "Clearly there are tough issues and gaps that remain, but obviously we want to continue working with the parties to overcome those gaps," he said. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have focused on continuing Middle East peace negotiations at the Bolling Air Force base near Washington after negotiations with Syria reached a virtual dead end. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, who met with President Bill) Clinton in Washington this week, and Palestinian President Yasser Arafat have set May 13 as a target date for an outline accord on a final peace treaty. Clinton has invited Arafat to a summit in Washington next week. Clinton spoke to Arafat by telephone for about 20 minutes on Friday, a White House official said in Atlanta, Georgia, where Clinton was attending a fundraiser. No details of the conversation were not made public. Rubin said the Palestinian and Israeli negotiators were expected to conclude their negotiations this weekend and return to the Middle East for consultations with their leaders. The United States remains ready to resume a more active role in the peace process, but Rubin said the timing for that was not quite right. He noted that Washington agreed to "play a more intensive role in the discussions and have greater involvement in the discussions and that will happen." Israel and the Palestinians have set a Sept. 13 deadline for ending the seven-year peace process that began secretly in Oslo by forging a peace treaty resolving the most difficult issues -- Jerusalem, borders, Jewish settlements, water and refugees.
 In This Section 
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright by People's Daily Online, all right reserved | | Mirror in U.S. | Mirror in Japan | Mirror in Edu-Net | Mirror in Tech-Net | |
