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Peres Presents to US officials Ceasefire Plan with Palestinians
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has presented to U.S. officials a ceasefire plan to end the bloody violence with the Palestinians, the Internet edition of Israel's Ha'aretz daily reported on Friday.
Peres, who was authorized on Sunday by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to negotiate a ceasefire with the Palestinians, presented the proposal to U.S. Middle East envoy David Satterfield and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Kurtzer.
Peres stressed that Israel's demand for a period of seven-day " absolute quiet" as a pre-requisite for the resumption of negotiations is unreasonable and proposed reducing the tensions gradually in the Palestinian territories.
According to the initiative, the West Bank and Gaza Strip will be divided into different areas. The Israelis and Palestinians will discuss ways to reduce violence and jointly work out a special " menu" for actions to be taken by both sides in each area.
The Palestinians will be required to take measures to restore security while Israel will withdraw troops and ease closure on the Palestinians in those areas.
Peres proposes that the Gaza Strip be the starting point of the steps as he believes that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has relatively wide control in that area and can take actions to calm the situation.
Peres is also concerned with the economic crisis in the Gaza Strip, where residents are more dependent on Israel for work than their counterparts in the West Bank.
He also promised to work on solving the problem of the border crossing at the Karni industrial area in the northeastern Gaza Strip.
Apart from efforts to reduce tensions, Peres calls for an end to incitement from both sides. He said that Arafat must give public speeches to promote peace and condemn violence while the Israeli government must control its rhetoric on the Palestinians.
The U.S. has said that it was impressed by the idea, but was unsure if Arafat would be ready to implement such a proposal, the Ha'aretz said.
Israel and the Palestinians accepted a U.S.-brokered ceasefire plan in mid-June. But it has never been fully implemented.
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