An American plan to settle the question of Jerusalem
Amid news on a US plan which states the UN Security Council supremacy on al-Ibraheimi mosque and to divide Jerusalem with the aim to settle the Israeli- Palestinian disputes, the Israeli acting foreign minister Shloumo Bin Ami said that israel intends to keep its sovereignty on al-Ibraheimi mosque and will not give up " al-Haikal" site . He said " We have already have the Haikal and we will never give it up."
Meantime, the Israeli forces escalated their oppressive measures against the Palestinians in the city of Jerusalem and deployed additional forces inside the " settlement" quarters of " Nafeh Yaqoub" under the pretext of protecting the settlers.
On Sunday the Israeli daily YEDIOT AHRONOT revealed an American proposal which provides for the supremacy of the UN Security Council on the holy al-Ibraheimi mosque with the aim of settling the disputes between Israel and the Palestinians concerning sovereignty on al-Aqsa mosque.
The paper explained that the American proposal states that the UN Security Council maintains sovereignty over the mosque through UN peace keeping forces in the area and the Palestinians are to run the Islamic holy sites while what is called the " wailing wall" and its adjoining area will be kept under the Israeli sovereignty.
The paper added that this proposal was conveyed to the Israeli negotiation team chaired by Shloumo Bin Ami who last week held talks with the US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
The Israeli paper quoted an Israeli source as saying that this proposal implies positive elements so as it is a base to achieve a breakthrough for the negotiations.
Meantime, the US " News Week " magazine unveiled that the israeli and Palestinian negotiations had drafted an agreement five years ago in which the two sides announced reciprocated recognition between themselves and dividing Jerusalem as a capital for both of them.
The magazine said that Yusi Belin who was the main Aide for the Israeli prime minister at that time Yitzhak Rabin drafted together with one of Arafat's advisor Mahmoud Abbas a draft for the agreement in talks which were held along 18 months between 1993-1995.
Newsweek said that Rabin did not admit the document because he was assassinated before the final draft reached his office, adding that there is a conception that this document constitute the base of negotiations between Ehud Barak and Yasser Arafat and that President Clinton used also this document in the recent Camp David negotiations.
However, over several years news reports were leaked for summaries of draft agreements but NewsWeek added it had received a copy of this document and it published the 13-page document on its web-site on the Internet.
The preliminary plan calls for the declaration of the Palestinian state on May 5, 1999 with its capital, the Palestinian areas in Jerusalem.
Simultaneously, the new Palestinian state recognizes Israel with its capital in the Jewish quarters of the city.
The city of Jerusalem will be kept open and undivided. The preliminary document and the appendixes explain the work of the municipal councils and ways of sharing responsibilities of the Palestinian and Israeli cities.
The draft agreement also proposes giving the state of Palestine an additional regional sovereignty on al-Aqsa mosque and also considers giving a special status o al-Qeyamah Church.
Also israel admits in this draft document that the Palestinians have the right to return to the Palestinian State and the right to be compensated for the moral and material losses inflected as a result of the wars of 1948 and 1967.
At the same time, the Palestinian side explains that the right of the Palestinian refugees to return back to their land is not practical and thereby seems that it will permit a symbolic number of Palestinian refugees to return back to their former homeland inside Israel.
The draft agreement also calls for setting up an international committee for the Palestinian refugees which compensates the refugees for their losses and supervises programs to rehabilitate the refugees.
Meanwhile, five Palestinians were wounded when the Israeli occupation forces opened fire on Palestinian demonstrators who tried to break into "Netsarim" settlement in Gaza strip while an Israeli soldiers was wounded by stones thrown by the Palestinians during the demonstration organized for the second running day on the anniversary of Sabra and Shatela massacres committed by the Israeli occupation forces in Lebanon in 1982.
Eye-witnesses said that the Palestinian police tried to disperse the demonstration which was organized near an israeli military base on the road leading to Netsarim settlement.
The Israeli occupation forces closed " Erzokorny crossing before the Palestinian cars following the demonstration.
A statement released by the occupation army said that unidentified persons opened fire against an Israeli industrial firm belong to" Mefdal Or" settlement near Bethlehem and the operation resulted in no casualties.