Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has denied an Israeli newspaper report that opposition leader Shimon Peres had advised Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat not to sign an agreement on Hebron.
“There is no truth whatsoever to these reports,” said Netanyahu, who reached Peres by phone in Sweden on Sunday night to stress that he gave no credence to the report.
Peres said he appreciated the gesture.
“I think it is ridiculous that a journalist is willing to go on the word of this ‘rabbit’ who made the claim but is afraid to identify himself,” Peres told Israel Television.
The claim, attributed to a “senior political official” quoted in an Israeli newspaper Sunday, came as Israeli and Palestinian negotiators continued efforts to conclude an accord on implementing a long-delayed Israeli troop redeployment in Hebron.
Arafat also denied that Peres had advised him regarding the agreement.
He warned that further delays in negotiations with Israel would pose a “direct threat” to the entire peace process.
Arafat was speaking at a joint news conference in Gaza with Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Al-Thani.
Al-Thani did not visit Israel, but Israeli officials pointed out that he met with Foreign Minister David Levy at last week’s regional economic conference in Cairo.
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