PNA Continues Consultations on US Compromise Plan: ArafatPalestinian leader Yasser Arafat said Thursday that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) was still pondering over the US-proposed compromise peace plan and discussing it with Arab countries.Upon his arrival here from Cairo for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Arafat told reporters that "there are not US proposals but ideas." "We are discussing the issue inside the Palestinian leadership and the executive committee. We may discuss it in the Palestinian Central Council if necessary," he added. "The Arab (summit) follow-up committee will hold meeting on Monday and we will brief our Arab partners on the issue to make us well-acquainted with the reality in the light of the resolution of the latest Arab Summit," Arafat said. Arafat met Mubarak Thursday hours after the cancellation of the scheduled three-party summit between Mubarak, Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to evaluate the US plan. Palestinian reservations on the US plan were believed to be the decisive factor in the suspension of the summit. Arafat deems his meeting with Mubarak as "important and fruitful." "We discussed the US ideas carefully," he added. In a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa after the Mubarak-Arafat meeting, Palestinian senior negotiator Saeb Erekat said "We raised dozens of questions on the details of the maps and the geographical link for East Jerusalem and the rest territories." Israeli media said the US plan provides that the Palestinians would resume sovereignty over the al-Aqsa mosque compound while the Israelis would retain sovereignty over the areas below the Temple Mount including the Western wall. Under the plan the Palestinians would regain 95 percent of the West Bank territories and 100 percent of Gaza Strip, but 3.7 million Palestinian refugees would be denied the right to return to their homeland. US Peace Plan Still Under Palestinian Considerations: ArafatThe Palestinian leadership is still examining the peace proposals presented by US President Bill Clinton, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said on Thursday before leaving Cairo for the Gaza Strip.Earlier Arafat held talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to evaluate the situation about the American plan to revive the Middle East peace, the official Middle East News Agency reported. The Palestinian leadership will convene on Friday evening to follow up the U.S. peace plan on a final settlement with Israel, Arafat said, adding that intensive contacts were under way with Arab countries and other concerned parties regarding the issue. He did not rule out the possibility of holding a three-way summit with Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak or a summit between him and Barak, saying that he did not reject any such summit. A three-way summit between Arafat, Mubarak and Barak scheduled for Thursday afternoon in Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh was cancelled at the last minute. Barak refused to attend the summit after the Palestinian leadership expressed deep reservations over the US proposals, which give Palestinian sovereignty over Arab neighborhoods and al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem in return for the Palestinian waiving of rights of return for the some 3.7 million refugees displaced since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Arafat said that Clinton's latest ideas were "similar" to that from the Camp David summit which broke down in the US in July regarding the thorniest issues including East Jerusalem, the return of the Palestinian refugees, Jewish settlements and the borders of a future Palestinian state. The Palestinian side was seeking clarifications of these issues from Clinton's proposals of compromise on final status agreements between the two sides, Arafat added. Arafat, who has returned to Gaza Strip, frequently visits Egypt to discuss complicated issues with Mubarak, who has been playing a major mediatory role in the Middle East peace process. |
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