JERUSALEM, Dec 23 (AFP) - Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has proposed to the Palestinian Authority a peace plan whereby Israel would recognise an independent Palestinian state just eight weeks after signing an accord, an Israeli daily reported Sunday.
But the office of hardline Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reiterated that there would be no political talks until all violence had ceased.
Peres proposed the plan to the Palestinian parliamentary speaker Ahmed Qorei, the daily Yediot Aharanot said.
Under the plan, Israel would would pull its forces out of all the autonomous Palestinian areas it has reoccupied since the Palestinian intifada, or uprising, began in September 2000.
The Palestinian state would initially exist on all the land under full or partial Palestinian Authority control, the newspaper said.
A total US-sponsored ceasefire would take place in the six weeks following the signing of an accord, with internationally approved peace plans aimed at defusing tensions put into effect during that period.
Palestinian police would collect all illegal weapons while Israel would ease the blockade it has imposed on Palestinian towns and cities.
But Sharon said he would stick to his policy of refusing to negotiate until there is a total halt to violence in the region, his office said in a statement.
The statement said Sharon "and the whole Israeli government" decided not to hold political talks until the Palestinian Authority arrests "terrorists," their handlers and organisers, smashes "terrorist" organisations, seizes all illegal arms, snuffs out all violence and incitement to violence and takes "effective measures" to prevent attacks on Israel.
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