GAZA (Islamweb & News Agencies) - A senior Palestinian negotiator said on Thursday that talks between Palestinians and Israelis were focusing on a four-point document that could lead to a final settlement of their decades-long conflict.
Nabil Shaath, also a cabinet minister, was presenting details of recent meetings between Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmed Korei.
``The aim is to find a political way out of the current crisis and not focus on security matters as (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon always stressed,'' Shaath said.
Previous efforts toward securing a peace deal during the 15-month-old Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation have failed to take root.
Shaath's remarks largely confirmed a weekend report by Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on the Peres-Korei talks.
Ideas under discussion included establishing a Palestinian state on 42 percent of the West Bank and most of the Gaza Strip, which Palestinian sources said was proposed by Peres.
Sharon's spokesman Raanan Gissin called them ``ideas'' and not a peace plan. ``It's wrong to talk about a peace plan here. It's the contact with Abu Ala (Korei) to see if there is a possibility of reaching a cease-fire,'' he told Reuters.
Other sources in Sharon's office also played down the talks, saying the right-wing prime minister had ruled out any negotiations on a Palestinian state until the issue was brought to his government.
Sharon reiterated on Thursday his demand for a complete end to Palestinian violence before peace talks can be resumed.
The second step under discussion involves an agreement on when a Palestinian state would be declared, whether before the start of final status talks or as a result of the negotiations. Shaath said the two sides are in disagreement over this issue.
The third step calls for Palestinians and Israelis to launch negotiations within eight weeks on final status issues such as the status of Jerusalem, refugees, borders and Jewish settlements, he said.
``The Palestinians say the talks should last for nine months and the Israelis say 12 months,'' Shaath said.
``The best (idea) is that a Palestinian state be declared as a result of the final negotiations on the complete borders of 1967 with Jerusalem as its capital and resolving the problem of refugees,'' he said. The two sides disagree on the 1967 borders.
Shaath said the fourth item in the framework was to agree on international and Arab supervision of the talks and of the implementation of any treaty that could emerge.