THE Israeli government last night unveiled a radical new peace proposal, ostensibly designed to achieve a full and final deal with the Palestinians within six months.
But the plan was immediately dismissed by Palestinian leaders as a trick - a bid by the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, to evade the obligations of the current Oslo peace accords and deflect the international criticism of his Jewish building programme in East Jerusalem.
Mr Netanyahu is offering to enter intensive talks with the Palestinians in the hope of reaching a permanent settlement by September on all the remaining issues of dispute between the two sides including the status of Jerusalem, the fate of the settlements, border demarcations, the question of Palestinian statehood and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.
By proposing so accelerated a timetable, Mr Netanyahu wants to avoid having to continue the series of phased West Bank land handovers to the Palestinians as set out in the Oslo accords, which he believes are reducing Israel's bargaining power.
His idea was immediately supported by most of his hardline coalition partners, but castigated by most moderate opposition members and flatly rejected by the Palestinians.
Mr Saeb Arekat, a leading Palestinian peace negotiator, said he had no objection to speeding up the talks on a full and permanent settlement, but only within the Oslo framework, and that there could be no question of Israel evading its obligations over the question of further West Bank withdrawals.
Mr Shimon Peres, leader of the opposition Labour Party and the architect of the Oslo process, called the plan "an explosion that will produce absolutely nothing". The correct way, he said, to have explored the idea would have been quietly, behind the scenes, checking whether the deep differences between the two sides could be bridged - "as we did with the Oslo process". By making the proposal public, said Mr Peres, the prime minister was effectively killing his own initiative.
Other opposition spokesmen were far more caustic, scoffing at the notion of Israel and the Palestinians, in the present climate of deep mistrust, getting anywhere near a permanent deal in six months, and suggesting that the proposal actually represented a ploy to destroy any chance of a successful conclusion to the peace process.
Mr Netanyahu apparently raised his proposal on Sunday with King Hussein, when the Jordanian monarch visited Israel. The prime minister sought to present it in person to the Palestinian Authority President, Mr Yasser Arafat. Mr Arafat declined several requests for a meeting, so King Hussein acted as the middleman.
But, according to Israeli news reports last night, some of the key points got lost along the way, so the Prime Minister's Office publicised the story to put an end to any confusion.
Mr Arafat is today to travel to Egypt, where he will doubtless discuss the new Netanyahu initiative, with President Hosni Mubarak. The main purpose of his trip, though, is to consult with Mr Mubarak over the building work at Har Homah in south east Jerusalem, where Mr Netanyahu plans to construct 6,500 homes.
Work continued at the site, known to Arabs as Jebel Abu Gbneim, for a second day yesterday, after the Israeli Supreme Court rejected petitions for a halt. David Horovitz is managing editor of the Jerusalem Report