Mideast - AFP
Arafat endorses peace document sent to him by Arab foreign ministers
Date: Sat, Mar 27, 2004
TUNIS (AFP) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat (news - web sites) endorsed a copy of a Jordanian-Palestinian draft document sent to him from Tunis by Arab foreign ministers who are trying to revive an Arab initiative for peace with Israel, an Arab official said.
"The document on the Arab-Israeli conflict was sent by fax to president Arafat (in the West Bank) who signed it," the official said as ministers prepared a document to submit to their leaders at an Arab summit starting here Monday.
The draft peace document is based on both the Saudi-sponsored peace initiative adopted by an Arab summit in Beirut in 2002 and the US-backed "roadmap" plan that was announced last year.
"President Arafat approved it and the foreign ministers are discussing it behind closed doors, while Syria have expressed criticism about the document that should however be overcome," said the official who asked not to be named.
The official said the top diplomats were still debating an Arab initiative for political reform, which contain Egyptian, Jordanian, Yemeni, Qatari and Tunisian ideas. The issue of reform has taken up most of the nine hours of sometimes tense and stormy talks they held on Saturday, official said.
Several Arab officials said the ministers were determined to "finalize their talks" Saturday night on the issue of reform and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The combined draft incorporates the Beirut plan for Arabs to normalize ties with Israel in return for the Jewish state's withdrawal from lands it captured in the 1967 war as well as the US-backed roadmap which calls for creating a Palestinian state living peacefully alongside Israel.
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