Palestinians Send Mixed Signals to US Peace Plan

Palestinian Minister of Information and Culture Yasser Abed Rabou said on Wednesday that the Mideast peace proposals put forward by the United States were unacceptable.

Wide gaps still exist in the peace plan presented by US President Bill Clinton to the Palestinians and Israel on Saturday, which was aimed at reaching a peace agreement with Israel, Rabou said.

He termed the plan as far from the principle of negotiation, saying that the Palestinians cannot accept it because doing so would endanger the future of the Palestinian people.

Rabou made the remarks prior to a meeting chaired by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization to discuss the plan.

But other Palestinian officials said earlier that the Palestinian leadership has not made a final decision on Clinton's proposals on solving the thorniest issues in the final-status talks, including Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state, Jewish settlements and Palestinian refugees.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said that the Palestinians would not respond to the U.S. peace plan before it was clarified and that Arafat has sent a letter to the outgoing US president about the concerns.

The Palestinians will not have an answer without getting clarifications of the points, Israel Radio quoted Erekat as saying.

He added that it was still early to give any conclusions.

Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak are due to hold a summit with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday in Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh to discuss the US peace plan.

Right-Wing Israelis Protests at US Peace Proposals

The right-wing Yesha Council of Settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip staged protests in Jerusalem on Wednesday when the Israeli cabinet was deliberating a response to US President Bill Clinton's proposals on the peace talks with the Palestinians.

A convoy of buses and trucks went to the government complex when caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Barak began a cabinet meeting to discuss Israel's response to Clinton's proposals.

The outgoing U.S. president raised the peace plan Saturday for the Palestinian-Israeli final-status negotiations on Jerusalem, Palestinian refugees, Palestinian statehood and Jewish settlements. He demanded the two sides make final decisions on Wednesday.

About 20 Yesha Council vehicles circled the government complex, each carrying a sign with the slogan "The Temple Mount is Ours."

Meanwhile, police detained seven members of the extremist Temple Mount Faithful group when they were trying to break through a cordon near the Mograbi Gate entrance into al Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site.

Jewish settlers, who fear they might be evicted from their homes in the occupied Palestinian territories as a result of a peace deal with the Palestinians, have voiced opposition to the peace moves.

The most formidable opposition from Israeli political and social circles is to the possible transfer of the sovereignty over Al-Haram Al-Sharif, or the Noble Sanctuary, which houses al Aqsa mosque. The site is also known to the Jews as the Temple Mount.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast War and claimed Jerusalem as its "eternal and undivided capital" in 1980. The Palestinians have been striving to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.






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