Arafat Holds Talks with Mubarak on US Peace PlanPalestinian leader Yasser Arafat held talks Thursday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak before consulting with Arab foreign ministers on US President Bill Clinton's peace proposals for a final settlement with Israel.During the 90-minute meeting, Arafat briefed Mubarak on the outcome of his talks with Clinton in Washington on Tuesday, reported the state-run Middle East News Agency. The meeting was attended by Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa as well as Arafat's top aide Nabil Shaath and chief negotiator Saeb Erekat, the agency said without giving further details of the talks. Arafat arrived here Thursday morning after concluding a lightning visit to Washington where he held talks with Clinton at the White House to review the details of the U.S. peace plan and seek clarifications from the outgoing U.S. president. The Palestinians had many reservations and questions on the US proposals for concluding a final peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis. After his meeting with Mubarak, Arafat headed for the Cairo- based Arab League headquarters to discuss the U.S. proposals with Arab foreign ministers and members of the follow-up committee set up in October's Arab summit in Cairo for supporting Palestinian uprising. Foreign ministers from Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian National Authority, Lebanon, Syria, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Tunisia met here Thursday to unify the Arab stance on the issue. Palestinian officials said that the Palestinians will announce their decision on the U.S. proposals after Arafat consults with the Arab foreign ministers. White House spokesman Jake Siewert said Wednesday that Arafat has given conditional acceptance to Clinton's proposals as a basis to restart Mideast peace talks. The outgoing U.S. president presented a compromise plan on December 23, which will give the Palestinians sovereignty over Arab neighborhoods and the al-Aqsa mosque compound in East Jerusalem, but deny the Palestinian refugees' right of return. Under the plan, Israel will have sovereignty over the Wailing Wall, the holiest shrine in Judaism, and part of the Armenian quarter in the Old City of East Jerusalem. Israel has accepted the proposals in principle while the Palestinian leaders have expressed deep reservations over them. |
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