Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat is considering declaring the creation of an independent Palestinian state this weekend at the United Nations General Assembly, the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported today. Foreign Affairs Minister Shimon Peres, who met with Arafat in Brussels yesterday, denied knowledge of any such unilateral plans, and prepared to meet with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to finalize their joint diplomatic initiative.

According to the Al-Hayat report, the Palestinians believe that many countries will immediately declare their support for an independent Palestine, and the declaration will create a new reality in the Middle East.

Peres warned Arafat not to make a unilateral declaration. "If Arafat does this, he will be taking a huge risk, because it will be a Palestinian state without borders," he told Army Radio.

Last night, Peres and Arafat met in a 90-minute session arranged by the European Union in hopes of getting them to make a new commitment to peace talks. The meeting took place at the office of Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, whose country now holds the EU presidency. EU security chief Javier Solana, EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten and Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel also attended the meeting.

"This is the first time since September 26 that there has been direct [Israeli-Palestinian] political dialogue," a Belgian government spokesman said afterwards. "It was carried out on the basis of security proposals put forward by the [Belgian] EU presidency," he said. Officials said Verhofstadt asked Peres and Arafat to commit to new peace talks but gave no further details.

Israeli sources played down the meeting. "There were no negotiations and no decisions," one source said. "We should not make a big deal about these meetings," Peres said earlier. "Everybody thinks that if we meet, all the problems are solved. That is not the case."

The session, held during the European Union foreign ministers conference on relations with the Mediterranean countries, was the third meeting between Peres and Arafat in four days. Over the weekend, at another conference in Majorca, Peres and Arafat had lunch with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and discussed the need for a further cease-fire. Peres said that the Israelis would continue to withdraw from Palestinian areas if Arafat would "take control" over the Palestinians and work to stop the daily terror attacks against Israeli soldiers and civilians.

"There is a real problem of credibility because what was promised was not realized," Peres said yesterday of Arafat.

Peres launches verbal assault on Syrian Foreign Minister
Peres also used the Brussels conference to confront Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Shara. "After a year of the Hizbullah abusing the families of the kidnapped soldiers, it is time that you at least help bring their bodies home for burial in Israel," he said, asking the Syrians, "Don't you even have a heart?"

In response to Al-Shara's claim that Israel was a "terrorist country," and that resistance to the occupation was legitimate, Peres asked, "Is the murder of a 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl, who were traveling on a bus, legitimate resistance to occupation?"

Looking directly at Al-Shara, Peres exclaimed, "How can you blame Israel for terror when in your capital you harbor headquarters for ten terrorist organizations that give orders to people around the world to murder children, women and the elderly?" Israeli sources said that Al-Shara looked pale after Peres's unprecedented attack.

Peres, Sharon to discuss joint plan
Meanwhile, Ha'aretz reported today details of the new peace initiative that Peres will bring to Sharon for approval. "We don't yet have an agreed plan, but we are definitely discussing it," Sharon told the Likud faction yesterday.

Sharon said the Peres plan did not call for the dismantling of any settlements, "but it definitely has some interesting elements. Whether it's a joint plan, I'll only know when we finish our deliberations," he said.

According to the Ha'aretz report, the plan calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state, initially in the Gaza Strip where the Palestinians have territorial contiguity. The state would be demilitarized, and its borders would be determined through negotiations. The plan would retain the status quo for Jerusalem, and would not give Palestinian refugees any right of return to the State of Israel.

Sharon and Peres are due to discuss the plan on Friday. Before that, Peres will reportedly raise his proposals with Palestinian parliament speaker Abu Ala, when the two deliver keynote addresses at a meeting of the Socialist International in Sweden. Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson said that the conference agenda called for a working luncheon between Peres and Abu Ala.

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