Three days after a stormy Likud central committee session voted against the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, Israel's political spotlight turns to the Labor Party, where leadership rivals Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer and MK Haim Ramon are expected to propose alternative peace plans. Knesset Speaker Avraham Burg will present his own diplomatic initiative, but is expected to side with Ben-Eliezer as part of their shared desire to thwart Ramon's leadership challenge.

Ben-Eliezer, who was elected Labor Party chairman in December after a contested ballot battle with Burg, will unveil his peace plan for the first time at the Labor Party's Central Committee gathering in Kibbutz Shefayim tonight. The plan will be based on three major principles, Army Radio reported:

	A continued war on terror.
	Security separation - with the IDF positioned on both sides of the security fences.
	Diplomatic initiatives towards a final status agreement.

Ben-Eliezer's diplomatic initiatives will closely resemble the outlines proposed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton at the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations at Camp David in July 2000 and at Taba in January 2001, media sources reported. Ben-Eliezer's plan envisions two states for two peoples, with Israel withdrawing from most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip while annexing the largest blocs of Jewish settlements.

Ben-Eliezer's plan reportedly calls for the Palestinians to have control of the Arab neighborhoods of east Jerusalem. In the holy sites of the Old City, Israel would not retain sovereignty, but would instead share sovereignty, based on agreements to be negotiated with Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders, Maariv reported. Labor Party sources said that, in effect, Ben-Eliezer had agreed to the idea of an international presence on the Temple Mount, the paper reported.

The draft version of Ben-Eliezer's plan was reportedly prepared with Burg's assistance, Ha'aretz reported. Speaking today to Army Radio, Burg said the Labor Party should fully endorse the Saudi Arabian initiative for a full Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian territories, in exchange for a full peace between Israel and the Arab states.

"The partner is no longer Arafat," Burg said. "The partner is Saudi Arabia, the partner is Syria - if it comes (to a planned regional peace conference), the partners are Egypt and Jordan. They are the guarantors of a peace with the Palestinians."

Burg's alliance with Ben-Eliezer was strange, due to the fierce rivalry between the two in the September ballot, but was possibly based on their shared desire to thwart Ramon's leadership challenge, political analysts suggested. Ramon has announced his intentions to contend for Labor Party leadership and hopes to be the party's candidate for prime minister in the next elections.

The diplomatic plan Ramon will present at the Labor Party conference calls for an immediate Israeli unilateral withdrawal to defensible lines. Ramon's withdrawal plan necessitates the evacuation of isolated Jewish settlements, but leaves the largest settlement blocs on the Israeli side of the border. "We are here, and they are there," Ramon says, explaining the plan. "It is impossible to live together, and impossible to conquer 3 1/2 million Arabs every time something happens." Ramon's plan reportedly leaves the issue of Jerusalem for future negotiations, only at a time when final status talks with the Palestinians would resume.

Ramon said yesterday that Clinton's initiatives and the Saudi peace plan were "all well and good, but no one - neither Fuad (Ben-Eliezer) or others, is answering the question of what happens in the absence of a partner. There is no partner now, and apparently, neither will there be one in the foreseeable future."

No vote on the rival peace plans will take place at tonight's Labor Party Central Committee session. The alternative proposals will be brought up again at a broader Labor Party convention in July. Ben-Eliezer is expected to defer calls for the Labor Party to leave the national unity government until that time. If the government would then reject Ben-Eliezer's initiative, Labor would leave the coalition and move towards advancing general elections, media sources reported.

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