Israel's hawkish opposition leader Ariel Sharon accused Prime Minister Ehud Barak of breaking his promise to protect Jerusalem's unity following revelations of a US proposal to share sovereignty over parts of the eastern sector of the city.
"Barak has violated his promise to look after the unity of Jerusalem. If he had revealed his intentions he would not have been elected," Sharon, leader of the Likud party, told Israeli public radio.
Israeli minister without portfolio Michael Melchior earlier said that Barak had accepted a US bridging proposal at the Camp David peace summit to have joint Israeli-Palestinian sovereignty over certain Arab districts in east Jerusalem.
And his cabinet colleague Yossi Beilin, Barak's dovish justice minister, also contested the "myth" of the unity of what Israel has regarded as its eternal undivided capital.
"Barak has negotiated like an amateur because we can reach a peace for generations, a real peace, without dividing Jerusalem," Sharon said, complaining that the plan would leave Jewish communities isolated.
In some parts of Jerusalem, posters apparently put up by Jewish extremists, declared: "Barak is betraying Jerusalem - OCCUPIED JERUSALEM (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
