Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Thursday proposed transferring to the Palestinians another 10 percent of the West Bank and recognizing a Palestinian state under any future "extended interim accord."
"If we don't reach an accord on Jerusalem and the refugees we could conclude an extended interim accord under which we would give them 10 percent (of the West Bank) to ensure territorial continuity, while recognizing a Palestinian state," Barak told a press conference in Tel Aviv.
Barak is hoping to come up with a peace deal with the Palestinians ahead of new elections in Israel expected to take place in the next six months.
Haaretz newspaper reported Thursday that Barak has informed the US administration that he still wishes to reach an agreement with the Palestinian Authority despite early elections in Israel.
In a message to be conveyed by Justice Minister Yossi Beilin, who is scheduled to meet with National Security Advisor Sandy Berger, Barak stressed the importance of the time factor, and asked the Clinton administration to help promote the peace process, according to Haaretz.
Senior Israeli officials have told their American counterparts that Israel will now try to move forward toward as broad an agreement as possible.
The negotiations will be conducted in direct talks with the Palestinians, and the US will be called in to intervene and lend its support only in the final stages, in an attempt "to finalize the agreement."
According to the paper, cabinet ministers Amnon Lipkin-Shahak and Shlomo Ben-Ami are pressuring Barak to drive for a comprehensive final agreement with the Palestinians, and to take several confidence-building measures.
Shahak supports a significant easing of the closure on the territories, and a dispatch of international observers there, as demanded by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, said the paper.
In the meantime, Ben-Ami leaves Thursday for a tour of Scandinavia, where he will meet with his counterparts from Sweden (which is to receive the rotating presidency of the European Union on January 1), Norway and Denmark, said the paper – (Several Sources)
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