As Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir embarked on a crucial mission to sell his peace proposals to Washington, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin was busy drumming up support for his own plan from Palestinians in the administered territories.
Heads of the civil administration in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, who report to Rabin, have intensified their meetings with Palestinian leaders, hoping to set the stage for elections there.
The meetings have taken place with representatives of all political factions in the Palestinian political community, despite a specific call by leaders of the uprising to boycott all meetings with Israeli officials.
To promote Rabin’s plan, the authorities have recently permitted a number of key figures in the territories to go abroad and meet with PLO officials, hoping they would convince the PLO to give them the green light to enter into preliminary negotiations with Israel.
Gen. Shaike Erez, head of the West Bank civil administration, met Sunday with 23 Palestinian leaders in the Tulkarm-Kalkilya area.
Palestinian participants described it as a routine meeting. Therefore, they said. no one could ban them from taking part in it. They would not say what they had told the Israeli officials.
NEW SET OF DEMANDS
But a prominent Palestinian leader who has returned from a long visit oversees presented a new list of conditions for participation in any peace negotiations with Israel.
Hanna Siniora, editor of the East Jerusalem daily A1-Fajr, said the Palestinians would insist on immediate withdrawal of the Israeli army from the territories, direct negotiations between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, and an Israeli commitment to accept the principle of an independent Palestinian state.
Siniora, apparently realizing that the demands were not realistic, added that they were subject to modification.
Rabin presented his peace plan to the hawkish wing of the Labor Party on Sunday. It calls for election of representatives in the territories who would represent the Palestinians in negotiations over a five-year interim settlement.
During that period, the Palestinians would rule over their own affairs, except in the areas of security and foreign affairs. Talks on the final status of the territories would also include representatives of Jordan and Palestinians living outside the territories.
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