OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

Haaretz: Arafat: Accord bid to win peace, but lacks official status

Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, responding with caution to the Geneva Accord peace
proposal drafted by former senior Israeli and Palestinian officials, Tuesday called it a bid to
achieve Middle East peace, but noted that the document had no official standing.

Arafat did not comment on the specifics of the deal, which gives Palestinians a state in virtually all of the West Bank
and Gaza Strip and divides Jerusalem, but largely keeps Palestinian refugees from returning to homes in what is
now Israel.

Beilin blasted Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for reportedly condemning the accord as hampering
peace efforts. "Does anyone truly believe that Sharon is in the midst of serious negotiations
and Yossi Beilin is hampering him by bringing an agreement with someone else?"

"This is foolishness and nonsense," Beilin continued. "For three years, Sharon has been
babbling on about his wanting peace - and he doesn't do anything."

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is said to have described the document as "the greatest
historical mistake since Oslo."

Top Palestinian Authority officials confirmed Monday that Yasser Abed Rabbo, the former PA
minister who headed the group of unofficial Palestinian negotiators, is a very close
associate of Arafat's, and there is no chance he would have gone ahead with the talks without
the PA chairman's approval, the Palestinian leaders emphasized.