Bickering Mars Mideast Peace Talks
A U.S. envoy's first round of talks on a new Middle East peace plan produced a host of complaints on Thursday.
Palestinians balked at the idea of skipping presidential elections -
a means of sidelining Yasser Arafat - and Israelis said their security concerns were not being addressed.
The envoy, Assistant Secretary of State William Burns, met separately with officials from both sides, but not with Arafat. The Bush administration is boycotting the Palestinian leader, following Israel's lead in blaming him for continuing violence and deepening Palestinian suspicions of a U.S. bias.
The proposal, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, calls for creation of a Palestinian state with temporary borders next year.
The Burns mission is the most ambitious diplomatic push in the region in months, and its lukewarm reception underscores the minimal expectations on both sides at a time when two years of fighting appear to have ground to an unhappy stalemate.
Israeli troops have taken over key areas of the West Bank and have relentlessly struck at Palestinian militant groups — killing dozens of accused terrorists and arresting thousands — yet suicide bombings persist, and Israel's military strikes have taken an increasing toll in civilian lives.
In the latest violence, Israeli soldiers killed a 15-year-old Palestinian in the West Bank town of Jenin on Thursday. Witnesses and the military said soldiers opened fire after the youth climbed onto a tank. The military said he was shot because soldiers thought he might be carrying a firebomb, but he was not.
In Gaza, the Israeli military said soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian who was throwing grenades at them. The exchange took place near Rafah on the Egyptian border, scene of almost daily clashes.
Burns is carrying a so-called U.S. "road map" for settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in three phases.
Palestinian officials who met with Burns in the desert oasis of Jericho, far from Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, complained the proposal called for parliamentary but not presidential elections. It calls for a prime minister to take over some of Arafat's duties.
"This is interference in our internal affairs which is not acceptable," Erekat told reporters after the Jericho meeting.
Burns returned to Jerusalem to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. Before traveling to Jericho, Burns met Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer. Israel complained the blueprint does not clearly mandate an end to Palestinian terror attacks before political moves are made, a key Israeli demand.
"The defense minister emphasized the need to strengthen the security element in the road map because without security there can be no progress," said a statement by Ben-Eliezer.
Burns tried to defuse Israeli concerns. "It is only through decisive action to end terror and violence ... that we are going to be able to move ahead on a practical pathway to end occupation and this terrible conflict," he said.
According to the plan, in the first phase, from November to next April, the two sides would declare a truce. The Palestinians would hold elections, and Israel would pull its forces back from Palestinian towns and cities.
The provisional state, with temporary borders, would be created in the next phase, by December 2003. Then the two sides would tackle issues that have torpedoed all previous peace efforts, including final borders, the status of Jerusalem and Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, resulting in a peace treaty and a full-fledged Palestinian state.
The U.S. proposal, which has the backing of the other members of the so-called "Quartet" working for a Mideast solution — Russia, the European Union and the United Nations — is the first that offers the Palestinians a state before all outstanding issues are resolved.
In peace talks that broke down amid escalating violence in January 2001, Israel's previous government proposed a Palestinian state on the vast majority of the West Bank and Gaza, with a foothold in Jerusalem. In return Israel demanded the Palestinians forego their demand for a return of Palestinian refugees to Israel, and agree to an "end of conflict" declaration, but the Palestinians refused.
Sharon, elected the following month, has said he is willing to offer the Palestinians less land.