GAZA CITY, Dec 26 (AFP) - The head of the Palestinian legislative council, Ahmed Qorei, and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres have reached an agreement on the basis of future peace talks, a Palestinian source said Wednesday.
A document setting out the agreement, of which AFP obtained a copy in Arabic, handles four points, including Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state, and is similar to that published on December 23 by the Israeli daily, Yediot Aharonot.
The Palestinian leadership decided on Tuesday to maintain its high-level contacts with Israel, despite its decision to stop Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from attending midnight mass in Bethlehem in the West Bank, and Israel confirmed that the contacts between Qorei and Peres had the agreement of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Peres was on a trip to the Ukraine Wednesday and reacted favourably to a suggestion from Kiev to host Israeli-Palestinian peace talks in Yalta, where the victorious allies from the second wolrd war divided up the globe in 1945. Herewith, the four points as described in the document: - "Reach a complete ceasefire within six weeks under the
auspices of the United States and start implementing the Mitchell report (named after former US senator George Mitchell) to fight terrorism, by : collecting weapons, putting an end to the closure (of the Palestinian terriroties) and the blockade (of Palestinian towns), freezing settlement activities, putting an end to the assassination of (Palestinian militants by the Israeli army) and regrouping the various Palestinian security services under one single command.
- "Israel must recognise within eight weeks a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip on the basis of UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 338 and Palestinians must recognise the State of Israel on the basis of the same resolutions.
- "Negotiations are to be launched after eight weeks between the two states on the final status of the Palestinian territories. (The negotiations) must discuss a time frame for a gradual Israeli withdrawal from the Palestinian state's territory to recognised borders within 18 months (Palestinian position) and within 24 months (Israeli position). The negotiations on the issues of Palestinian refugees, Israeli settlements, security, the sharing of water resources and the relations (of the Palestinian state) with other states must be completed within nine months (Palestinian position) and 12 months (Israeli position).
- "The regional and international contributions to the negotiations, including the peace-keeping force, the support to the Palestinian economy and regional cooperation and arbitration, are to be examined by the two parties."
Arafat has decided to despatch Qorei and Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo to brief the Egyptian and Jordanian leaders on the latest contacts with Israel, an official source said.
The Palestinians often consult Jordan and Egypt, the two Arab countries who have a peace treaty with the Jewish state and have acted as peace-broker in the bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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