CAIRO Ñ Egypt has drafted a plan for the establishment of a
Palestinian state next year.
Arab diplomatic sources said Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will relay
the Egyptian plan when he meets President George Bush over the next weekend
at
the presidential retreat in Camp David. The two men will meet on June 7-8.
Under the Egyptian plan, the Palestinians would declare an independent
state in the beginning of 2003. Israel would be expected to approve the
inclusion of such a state in the United Nations.
The Egyptian plan envisions a Palestinian state that grows in several
stages. The first stage would be that of the Gaza Strip and all of the areas
currently under some form of Palestinian control in the West Bank.
This would include the so-called A and B areas, which comprises 42
percent of the West Bank. The establishment of such a Palestinian state
would prompt negotiations for a withdrawal by Israel to the 1967 borders.
The process of Israeli withdrawal would be expected to be completed by 2007.
The process would be accompanied by reform within the Palestinian state.
Over the weekend, Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat in Ramallah. Mubarak is scheduled to meet
CIA George Tenet on Sunday to discuss Palestinian reform.
On Saturday, the Palestinian daily Al Quds reported that Arafat named
new ministers and redesigned his security agencies. The newspaper said
Arafat would cut down his Cabinet from 32 to 28 members.
Over the weekend, Israeli troops launched a sweep of Palestinian
insurgents in several West Bank cities. So far, about 25 suspected
insurgents were arrested as Israel has accused Arafat's Fatah insurgency
group of being responsible for an attempt to blow up a fuel complex outside
Tel Aviv.
