Arafat 'accepts Clinton peace plan'

Yasser Arafat has reportedly accepted Bill Clinton's formula for a negotiated settlement with Israel.

The next move is up to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, says a senior Palestinian official.

In two meetings at the White House, the Palestinian leader is said to have presented his side's position in a positive way, according to Hassan Abdel Rahman, the Palestine Liberation Organisation's US representative.

US administration officials, however, have given no indication that the huge gaps between Arafat's position on key issues and Clinton's outline had been bridged.

White House spokesman Jake Siewert said at the end of the meeting that Clinton had clarified his proposals in more than three hours of meetings with Arafat.

Barak said yesterday that, with the violence persisting, he was shifting his attention from the Clinton outline, which he had accepted last week on condition of Arafat's approval, towards guarding Israel's security against attacks.

Clinton is up against a tight deadline, with only 17 days remaining in his term to try to conclude a peace accord between the two sides. It is his main foreign policy goal.

The proposal, presented to negotiators for the two sides before Christmas, was designed as a basis for another round of negotiations and not as an agreement itself.