PLO `flexible' on statehood date

GAZA, JULY 4. The Palestinian Central Council has given its backing to the President, Mr. Yasser Arafat's plan to declare an independent Palestinian state by September 13, regardless of whether a final peace accord is reached with Israel.

The 129-member Council, the PLO's mini-Parliament, made the declaration yesterday after a two-day meeting in Gaza.

In a statement, it said September 13, the deadline for an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty, would be the date of such a declaration.

``(The PCC) announces to the Palestinian people, the Arab nations and to the world nations its determination...to declare a Palestinian independent state with holy Jerusalem as its capital...by the end of the interim period, stated and which finishes on September 13, 2000.''

A senior Palestinian official told Reuters, however, that the date was flexible.

``There is a flexibility in the formation of the (PCC) statement which could allow a declaration before September 13 if an agreement (with Israel) is reached...or after this date, but we are here talking about days or weeks.'' Earlier, Palestinian officials said a declaration could be made either in September or on November 15, the anniversary of a statehood declaration made by Mr. Arafat in 1988.

``There is insistence on declaring the state this year,'' said the Palestinian Cabinet Minister, Mr. Nabil Shaath. The Council decision added another element to efforts being made to tackle the problems still outstanding in reaching a definitive peace accord between the Israelis and the Palestinians by September.

In Washington, a White House spokesman, Mr. P.J. Crowley, said the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, had spoken by telephone with Mr. Arafat and the Israeli's Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Barak, yesterday about a possible three-way summit.

Israel wants such a summit while the Palestinians say it will fail without more lower-level talks. Mr. Crowley said Mr. Clinton had not decided on whether to call for such a summit.

Mr. Clinton called the two men separately from the Camp David presidential retreat to discuss their efforts to reach a final peace agreement covering the thorny issues of borders, the fate of Jerusalem, Jewish settlements and the return of Palestinian refugees.

``They talked about both substantive issues and about the process of moving forward, but again the President has made no decision,'' Mr. Crowley said.

Earlier, a Palestinian official said Mr. Clinton had suggested two dates later in July for a U.S.-Israeli-PLO summit. Crowley called the reports Premature.

Mr. Barak, addressing the weekly meeting of his Cabinet in Jerusalem on Sunday, repeated his call for an intensive summit to try to conclude the peacemaking efforts.

The PCC said a Palestinian state must include all of the lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 West Asia war, including Arab East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians want as the capital of a future state.

Israel annexed all of Jerusalem in 1967 in a move not recognised internationally and calls it its `united, eternal capital.'

Under interim peace deals, Palestinians control about 40 per cent of the lands. The PCC president, Mr. Selim al-Zanoun, told reporters that the PCC called for the return of all Palestinian refugees and for the dismantling of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.

Israeli television reported that Mr. Barak told a parliamentary defence committee on Monday that in the event of a unilateral declaration, Israel would annex areas of the West Bank and Gaza that it still controls.

Barak warns Palestinians

In Jerusalem, Mr. Barak renewed his warning to the Palestinians not to make a unilateral declaration of statehood, saying such a decision would be met with a strong Israeli response.

``Israel has warned the Palestinians that it will extend its jurisdiction over settlement areas and will establish a large security zone in the Jordan valley if they take unilateral measures,'' Mr. Barak said, according to public radio.

- Reuters

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