The Israeli cabinet unanimously agreed in a vote taken Sunday that the recent proposals to the Palestinians are not binding for the incoming government under Prime Minister-elect Ariel Sharon, reported Haaretz newspaper, quoting Israel Radio.
The cabinet decision supports outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak's announcement to several world leaders last week that the next government is not bound by former US President Bill Clinton's bridging proposals to both sides, Israeli offers at Camp David or the last-ditch peace talks at Taba, said the report.
The Palestinian leadership said they wanted peace talks to continue from where they left off at Taba last month and on the basis of Clinton’s proposals for a framework peace deal.
Sharon, however, has said that he considers none of the understandings reached at Camp David last year or at Taba as binding.
The Likud leader’s position has been backed up by the new administration of President George W. Bush and by Barak himself, who Friday sent a letter to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and to Swedish prime minister, who is presently serving as the vice president of the European Union, said The Jerusalem Post newspaper Saturday.
According to the Post, Barak informed the two leaders that the declarations following Camp David and Taba no longer apply.
Clinton himself had also said that if there was no agreement by the time he departed office, his proposals would be considered null and void, said the paper – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
