Israeli President strongly criticizes Netanyahu's policy

The bilateral meeting held Wednesday between Israeli President Ezer Weizman and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has failed to settle disputes between the two men after they had exchanged accusations.

President Weizman sees Netanyahu's policy as counter productive to peace in the region and had called on Netanyahu to have early elections, as opposed to waiting till the year 2000 when Netanyahu's term is up.

The Israeli army radio correspondent at Weizman's court said the two men refused to apologize to each other over statements made before their meeting. The radio added that the only thing they agreed to was not to have more criticism in public.

The two-hour meeting was held at Netanyahu's request after the Israeli mini-Cabinet meeting was postponed to a later time.

Meantime, member of the Palestinian government and its chief negotiator Saeb Erekat has categorically denied reports that the Palestinian government promised the Israelis to amend the Palestinian national charter. In statements he made on Wednesday to Monte Carlo radio, Erekat described as lies Israeli media reports earlier in the day that such a promise was given to the secretary of the Israeli Foreign Ministry. He added that the Palestinian charter was originally amended in 1996 according to a decision released by the PLO executive committee.

Also, in Paris, the chairman of the French-Arab solidarity committee, Lucien Bitterlin, stressed that Netanyahu's plan to expand the city of Jerusalem constitutes a real threat to the peace process in the region. Bitterlin who is also the chief editor of "France and the Arab States" magazine said in its July issue that Netanyahu's plan to expand Jerusalem is in defiance of world public opinion.