Egypt, Jordan's reconciliatory document for agreement between Israel, the Palestinians

The Israeli daily Maariv said on Wednesday that Egypt and Jordan are crystallizing a reconciliatory document for an agreement between Israeli and the Palestinian government.

According to the Israeli radio, the paper added that the Israeli foreign minister Shloumo Bin Ami had met in Paris with the advisor for the Egyptian President for political affairs Osama al-Baz and learnt from him about the Egyptian- Jordanian plan.

The paper added that an Israeli envoy was due to head on Wednesday to Amman to discuss this plan with the Jordanian officials.

The paper also quoted a source close to the Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak saying that there are good possibilities for resuming negotiations with the Palestinian government with the aim of reaching a draft agreement within the few coming weeks.

Maariv indicated that the US President Bill Clinton told Barak during a telephone call they held on Monday his determination to come to the Middle East and to stay in it for a longer period of time for mediating to complete an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. The paper added that if things proceed well, a meeting will be held between Barak and Arafat shortly.

The Israeli daily added that Bin Ami and the Israeli minister of Tourism Amnoun Shahak are taking part in these contacts besides the former chairman of the general security department Afi Rikhter, former deputy chairman of the security department and the chairman of Barak's office Jalaad Sheir and that the contacts are directly supervised by Barak personally.

However, officials at the Palestinian government on Tuesday denied such contacts between the Palestinians and Israel, noting that certain meetings held between the two sides only intended to explain view points.