Barak cancels meeting with Arafat

CAIRO, DEC. 28. The Palestinian leader, Mr. Yasser Arafat, huddled with the Egyptian President, Mr. Hosni Mubarak, today as he contemplated U.S. suggestions on how to make peace with Israel - ideas that have drawn angry opposition from some of his fellow Arabs.

Mr. Arafat's meeting with Mr. Mubarak, a key regional mediator, came a day after the Palestinian decision-making body effectively rejected the U.S. proposals. Israeli leaders had said the proposals could form the basis for talks. Given the Palestinian response, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Barak, called off his trip to Egypt today for what could have been his first meeting with Mr. Arafat in two months.

Mr. Arafat, accompanied by several top aides, made no comment as he went into meetings at a presidential guest house in Cairo. Egypt is a moderate voice in the region whose leaders have repeatedly said the peace process is the only way for the Israelis and Palestinians to work out their differences. But Egyptian officials were so far silent on whether they were encouraging Mr. Arafat to look at the U.S. proposals as a vehicle for making progress.

In an editorial today in the leading Egyptian newspaper Al Gomhuria, the Chief Editor and Mubarak confidant, Mr. Samir Ragab, said Arabs ``unanimously rejected'' the U.S. proposals, which he said were presented to the Palestinians as ``take it or leave it.'' ``This offer does not meet Arab and Palestinian interests and there is nothing which will force us to accept it,'' Mr. Ragab said.

Arabs were especially critical of the proposal that the Palestinians to drop their decades-old demand that their descendants who fled or were driven from homes in Israel during and after the country's war of independence five decades ago must have the right to return to their original homes.

About 4 million Palestinians, most now living in refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, would be affected. Jordanian officials maintained a careful silence today, refusing even to confirm or deny reports that the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, called Jordan's King Abdullah yesterday seeking his support.

Jordan and Egypt, the only Arab states with peace treaties with Israel, have been important go-betweens in Palestinian-Israeli negotiations. Jordan, though, is in a sensitive position with regard to the refugee question.

In Lebanon, a Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, repeated his country's rejection of ``any agreement between Palestinians and Israelis that may be related to the issue of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon without Lebanon being party to the agreement, because Lebanon is directly concerned in the matter and must participate in any decision that affects the fate of refugees on its territory.''

Blasts in Tel Aviv

At least two explosions blew up a bus in Israel's Tel Aviv today, wounding at least 13 people, hospital officials said.

Police said the explosions rocked the inter-city bus around midday on a main street, and that the damage appeared to be limited. One police official described it as a ``terrorist attack'' and a fire department official said rescue workers were checking for other bombs.

A medical official said at least 13 people had been hurt. A fire department official said it seemed most of the people had been only slightly injured.

Two car bombs have blown up inside Israel since Palestinians Israeli security forces began fighting three months ago. At least 343 people, all Palestinian except for 39 Israelis and 13 Israeli Arabs, have been killed in the violence. Four people were killed in the car bomb attacks inside Israel.

- AP, Reuters

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