Peace Proposals

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat labeled Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir as "Mr. No" today and turned down his proposal for elections in the occupied territories. He told a news conference at the end of a two-day visit to Poland that Shamir had rejected all peace proposals, and Palestinians had no interest in holding elections under the guns of Israeli troops. "Since 'Mr. No' doesn't accept any peace proposals, I ask what would you say about elections under occupation?

Ministers of the right-wing Likud bloc and the left-of-center Labor Party clashed today over U.S. Middle East peace proposals, but a Cabinet vote on the plan was postponed until the weekend. Labor leaders said that if Likud rejects the American proposals at Sunday's Cabinet session, they will ask Labor's Central Committee to vote the next day on leaving the government and forming a new coalition with small religious and left-wing parties.

Under U.S. and British pressure, Bosnia and Croatia on Tuesday promised to put a brake on a week-old offensive in northern Bosnia, U.S. officials said, even as their troops were reported within striking distance of the rebel stronghold of Banja Luka. The offensive has won for the Bosnian government and its Croatian allies control of approximately half of Bosnia-Herzegovina, but it has jeopardized a U.S.

Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Friday drew what he called his bottom line in any peace deal with the Palestinians: No transfer of sovereignty over Jerusalem's revered Temple Mount to the Palestinians, and no right of return for Palestinian refugees. Barak spoke after another day of confrontations between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel once again clamped a full closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip after bombings that killed two Israelis a day earlier.

There truly is "Tragedy in the Persian Gulf." The loss of life is always a tragedy, and we should all mourn the death of those on the American frigate Stark. It is also a tragedy of greater proportions that U.S. policy has contributed materially to maintaining the state of military confrontation between Iraq and Iran. The people of the Persian Gulf are well aware that the United States has quietly supported the Iraq war with Iran. There are indeed many questions to be answered, but they should be directed at U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday accepted Palestinian proposals for marathon peace talks in Egypt--a dramatic eleventh-hour effort with Israel's elections less than three weeks away and the hawkish opposition far ahead in the polls. Meeting late Saturday, Barak's "Peace Cabinet"--senior ministers involved in the peace effort--agreed to attend up to 10 days of intensive talks due to start late today at the Red Sea resort of Taba, government officials said.

Rival Ivory Coast factions agreed today on a package of peace proposals to end a four-month civil war, sources close to the talks near here said. The agreement -- which is expected to be approved by a summit of West African leaders this weekend in the French capital -- came as the Ivorian government accused neighboring Liberia of aiding the rebels. "It has been signed. Everyone has signed it," said a delegate at the talks who declined to be named.

In the uneasy days before his meeting with President Bush, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir says he is willing to consider Middle East peace proposals from Washington that fall short of Israel's demands--but not to give in to talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization. Last Sunday, Israel made several key demands of the United States as a condition for acceptance of a five-point peace plan from Secretary of State James A. Baker III.

The leader of moderate Kashmiri separatists warned Thursday that lasting peace between India and Pakistan was impossible unless his people were seated at the negotiating table. During more than a year of talks with Pakistan, India has refused to let Kashmiri leaders have a direct role in possible solutions to the 57-year-old conflict over Kashmir.

Bomb blasts killed two Israelis and wounded more than a dozen others Thursday, as Palestinian and Israeli leaders struggled with peace proposals put forward by President Clinton that would require painful concessions on both sides. Caretaker Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak made good on his threat not to attend a planned summit in Egypt with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, opting out after the Palestinians detailed two dozen reservations to Clinton's plan.