The Palestinian President, Mr Yasser Arafat, dismissed as "peanuts" yesterday the Israeli troop withdrawal proposed by the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, for the West Bank.
"What he is offering is peanuts. It cannot be accepted," Mr Arafat said on the last day of a visit to Washington for talks with President Clinton and other US leaders.
Mr Arafat declined to discuss rival Palestinian and Israeli figures for the extent of the proposed withdrawal. Palestinian officials have said they want 30 per cent and that Mr Netanyahu, who visited Washington earlier this week, offered less than 10 per cent.
Despite his rejection of the Israeli offer, Mr Arafat said his two sessions of talks with Mr Clinton were "successful, important and positive." He hoped they would help to revive the deadlocked peace process.
As specific achievements, Mr Arafat cited what he said were statements by Mr Clinton in support of Palestinian rights.
"I found President Clinton to have a strong commitment to the peace process and he will continue every effort to put the peace process back on track."
Asked about reports that US, Israeli and Palestinian representatives would soon meet in London to follow up the Washington talks, Mr Arafat said he had heard no such proposal.
A senior Palestinian negotiator said Mr Netanyahu has rejected US proposals for an Israeli troop pullback from at least 10 per cent of the West Bank. But an Israeli official said Mr Netanyahu had not ruled out anything during talks with Mr Clinton.
The PLO negotiator, Mr Saeb Erekat, said in Washington: "The gaps between us and Mr Netanyahu are very big because what Netanyahu is offering is totally alien to the Oslo accord."
Mr Clinton met Mr Netanyahu and Mr Arafat this week and urged them to trade a gradual Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank for tougher Palestinian security actions.
Asked for comment Mr Netanyahu's spokesman, Mr David Bar-Illan, said: "We have not rejected anything. We are continuing discussions."
The Palestinians have asked in the past for a 30 per cent pullback, far more than Israel has said might be acceptable.
Another Palestinian official in Washington said the US had proposed Israel pull back from 12 or 13 per cent of the West Bank.
"The Americans have not proposed any specific percentages but were talking about a percentage in the low teens between 12 and 13 per cent for the two phases of further redeployment. This cannot be accepted by the Palestinians," the official said.
Meanwhile, the founder of the Islamic militant movement Hamas urged Mr Arafat yesterday to wage a "holy struggle" against Israel, saying the Jewish state "understands only the language of weapons".
Sheikh Ahmed Yassin said Mr Clinton's separate White House talks with Mr Arafat and Mr Netanyahu this week on reviving the deadlocked peace process had failed because of "total American bias" towards Israel.