JERUSALEM (IslamOnline) - Israeli media has disclosed some of the issues on the agenda of the Clinton-Barak meeting due to start on Thursday. Israel Army Radio said that advisors of the two leaders have concluded the plan to be proposed to Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat.
Part of the plan is that the Americans would propose sending international observers to the Palestinian Territories instead of an international force, whose job would be to provide reports to the United Nations Secretary General, similar to that sent to al-Khalil following the massacre at the Ibrahimi holy sanctuary.
According to the plan a tacit Israeli refusal of the U.S. plan at the beginning would then convince Palestinians to accept it.
Past reports indicate that the presence of such an observation team did not deter some Israeli extremists from publicly challenging observers by attacking and provoking Palestinians.
The Palestinian Authority has asked the United Nations to send peacekeeping forces to the territories and refused the idea of substituting a U.N. force with international observers. But the Israeli side hopes that Palestinians will still accept it.
According to the plan, Barak would finally accept the American proposal but would ask for more security guarantees from the Palestinian Authority with emphasis on controlling the current uprising, Israeli Army Radio reported.
The Israeli Ma’arev newspaper also mentioned that Barak would probably ask Clinton to declare Arafat responsible for the collapse of the settlement process, and that intensive communication was taking place between Israeli and American officials to convince the American president to make it a public declaration.
