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| INSIDE CAMP DAVID - HEADLINES - Thursday, September 21, 2000. |
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PA WANTS U.S. CONSULTATION BEFORE ANY PROPOSALS RAMALLAH [MENL] -- The Palestinian Authority has demanded consultations with the United States before Washington presents any new plan to bridge the gap with Israel. PA secretary-general Tayeb Abdul Rahim said the demand has been relayed to the Clinton adminstration amid reports that the White House is preparing new proposals to clinch an Israeli-Palestinian peace accord. Abdul Rahim said the Palestinians will reject any U.S. proposal that does not agree with United Nations resolutions that call for a full Israel withdrawal from the territories it captured in the 1967 war. This, he said, includes all of eastern Jerusalem. "We demand that any ideas or measures that the U.S. administration thinks of proposing must be in complete harmony with international legitimacy [Security Council] resolutions 242 and 338 and in agreement with the land-for-peace principle," Abdul Rahim said. Israeli and PA sources said the United States is expected to complete a draft of bridging proposals by the weekend and present them to Israel and the Palestinians next week. The sources said the proposals would exclude the status of Jerusalem. "We are willing to consider far-reaching things," Prime Minister Ehud Barak said. "I don't know if there will be negotiations or what their results will be." PA International Cooperation Minister Nabil Shaath said Israel wants the PA to accept a proposal that would hand over the entire Gaza Strip and 90 percent of the West Bank to the Palestinians. "I have to say that the positions [on land] are close," Shaath said. "In the area of security, we have insisted that we will not tolerate anything that continues the occupation." Palestinian sources said other U.S. proposals grant sovereignty over most of the Temple Mount to the Palestinians. The dispute is over a small area of the mount claimed by Israel, the sources said. The sources said Israel wants the United Nations to ensure implementation of the agreement. On Wednesday, Israel and the Palestinians resumed contacts despite announcements by both sides that they would not attend another round of talks. The talks were headed by PA minister Saeb Erekat and Israeli negotiator Gilead Sher. PA officials said that since the Camp David summit in July Israel has refused to negotiate with the PA. Instead, Israel has pressed the PA to accept U.S. proposals raised during the 15-day summit. Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Nawaf Masalhah told the London-based Al Hayat daily on Thursday that Barak offered the Palestinians at Camp David half of Jerusalem's Old City as well as the return of 70,000 Palestinian refugees to Israel and the return of another 500,000 refugees to the West Bank. Masalhah said Barak refused a demand by PA Chairman Yasser Arafat that the Armenian quarter in Jerusalem be handed over to the Palestinians. The deputy minister said Barak insisted that the Western Wall and the neighboring Armenian quarter remain under Israeli sovereignty. = = = JORDAN WORRIED OVER PA FAILURE TO CONSULT AMMAN [MENL] -- Jordan has again expressed concern over the failure of the Palestinian Authority to brief the kingdom regarding the U.S.-sponsored peace process with Israel. Jordanian sources said the Hashemite kingdom is concerned that Israel and the Palestinians are preparing to conclude agreements on such issues as the future of Jerusalem and refugees that will directly affect Amman. The sources said despite numerous appeals neither Israel nor the PA has taken Jordanian interests into account during the peace efforts. Seventy percent of Jordan's population is Palestinian and refugees comprise a larger portion of the Hashemite kingom than in any other state of the Arab world. The sources said King Abdullah is particularly dismayed with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat. Abdullah reminded Arafat that he had promised his late father that the Palestinians would regularly consult Jordan during each stage of the peace process. Today, the sources said, Abdullah has told his aides that Arafat violated his pledge. The king was quoted as saying that Arafat flew to Egypt and met with President Hosni Mubarak five times since the Camp David summit ended in July. In contrast, Arafat has not consulted once with Abdullah since the summit. Jordanian sources warned that Amman will not pay the price for any Israeli-Palestinian accord. They said Jordan has moved elections scheduled in November for July to prepare for the prospect of any Israeli-Palestinian agreement during the final months of the Clinton administration. For his part, Arafat appears to be focusing on improving his relations with Syria. Arab diplomatic sources said Arafat seeks to visit Damascus within the next few weeks and meet President Bashar Assad. The sources said Arafat's refusal to accept Israeli and U.S. proposals on a peace accord has improved the chances of his meeting with Assad. They said Saudi Arabia has urged Assad to meet Arafat. = = = 
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