Around 100,000 Israelis have held a rally in Jerusalem, in protest against President Clinton's Middle East peace proposals, which include giving control of parts of the city to Palestinians. Israel annexed the eastern half of Jerusalem of the city in 1967. Its future status has been one of the principal stumbling blocks in negotiations. A US envoy, Dennis Ross, is expected in the region later today; he will hold separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian officials.
The Palestinian Authority has rejected President Clinton's ideas as a basis for ending the conflict with Israel. The negotiators said that Washington had been influenced by Israeli arguments and had not considered reservations of the Palestinian leadership. One Palestinian negotiator said that Clinton had failed to broker a peace deal because his aides were influenced by Israeli positions that had been rejected by the Palestinians. However the Palestinians have agreed to continue to work with President Clinton and his team as well as with the new Bush administration which takes office later this month.
In Washington, the Clinton Administration has acknowledged that a breakthrough in the Middle East talks is unlikely before the President leaves office in twelve days time. His proposals would give Gaza and most of the West Bank to the Palestinians, but would deny Palestinian refugees the right to return to Israel. The Palestinians claim that the Clinton plan would cancel United Nations resolutions 242, 338, and 194, which were the basis of the peace process agreed by Israel and the Palestinians nine years ago. The terms of the resolutions include the swapping of lands Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war for peace with the Arabs. They also call for the right of return of refugees. Israel and the Palestinians have differing interpretations of the resolutions.
