Sharon, Peres Reject Peace Plan by Egypt, JordanIsraeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres have rejected a plan proposed by Egypt and Jordan for ending violence and resuming peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians.Following a weekly cabinet meeting on Sunday morning, Sharon termed the proposal as a "non-starter" and "lip service" which may only help Egyptian and Jordanian leaders in their respective talks with U.S. President George W. Bush in the coming days. "The proposal did not urge Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to stop violence," Sharon was quoted as saying by the Israeli television. Peres also told the television that if the proposal was formally submitted to the Israeli government, the cabinet would have rejected it totally. According to Israeli media, the plan, passed on to Israel through Palestinian sources, suggested several steps to reduce violence in accordance with the understandings reached at an emergency Arab summit in Cairo last October before resuming peace talks between the two sides. The plan also calls for resuming negotiations on the basis of the last-ditch talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Taba in January, saying that the security coordination between the two sides should be restored with the help of the European Union, Egypt, and Jordan. According to the plan, Israel should carry out the third-phase withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza Strip as stipulated under an accord signed by former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Arafat at Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh in September 1999. In another development, Israeli cabinet Sunday accepted Sharon's proposal to extend the term of Israel Defense Forces' Chief of General Staff Shaul Mofaz for another year. Israelis and Palestinians have engaged in bloody clashes in the past six months, during which over 430 had been killed, most of them Palestinians, and more than 15,000 others wounded. |
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