Mitchell unveils plan for Mideast peace

Former American senator George Mitchell today unveiled a 28 point plan setting out a series of steps for ending the conflict in the Middle East.

The main points are:

:: There must be an immediate cessation of all violence by both Israelis and Palestinians, with no preconditions on either side.

:: The violence was not caused by a high-profile visit to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount by Ariel Sharon, now Israel’s prime minister, last September - but the visit was poorly timed and provocative, the report said.

:: Israel should immediately freeze all growth of the Jewish settlements in the West Back and Gaza Strip. Israelis want ‘‘natural growth’’ to be allowed, saying they cannot stop the 200,000 settlers building.

:: The Israeli Army should stop using lethal force against unarmed demonstrators.

:: The Palestinians must stop gunmen from using their areas to attack Israeli positions.

:: Yasser Arafat’s Palestinian authority must crackdown on terrorists and ‘‘make clear through concrete action that terrorism is reprehensible and unacceptable. This effort should include immediate steps to apprehend and incarcerate terrorists’’.

:: Israel must lift the embargo on all Palestinians entering Israel, which is crippling the economy of the territories.

:: The Palestinian security forces should make sure all Palestinians who try to enter Israel are not in any way associated with terrorism.

:: The two sides’ security forces should resume co-operation to prevent extremists on both sides taking action.

:: Both governments must back cross-community efforts to promote understanding and co-operation between the two communities.

:: Finally, there must be full negotiations to resolve the underlying causes of the conflict, without the threat of more violence hanging over the talks.