Israeli and PLO negotiators said Wednesday they have agreed on a framework to resolve issues blocking their peace accord, but Palestinian leaders insisted Israel still isn't honoring its prior commitments.
"The two delegations have reached a meeting of the minds," Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told a news conference after a joint meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.He added that "there were issues that we couldn't achieve" that will be referred to other negotiating teams for more discussion.
One Palestinian official who insisted on anonymity said it could take another 10 days to iron out details.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, who also attended the meeting, said the basic understandings reached by the negotiators still needed approval by the Israeli government and Palestine Liberation Organization leadership.
However, the PLO leadership in Tunis, Tunisia, expressed strong reservations about the deal.
A statement by the PLO's Executive Committee, issued after an urgent meeting with PLO leader Yasser Arafat, accused Israel of delaying implementation of the Israel-PLO accord calling for self-rule for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Jer-i-cho.
"The Israeli side has returned to its position of controlling and supervising the crossing points to Gaza and Jericho where the Israeli army is supposed to withdraw from, according to the declaration of principles," said the statement, carried by the Palestinians' WAFA news agency.
Committee members said Israeli control of the crossings would make the expected withdrawal a hollow promise that would amount only to a redeployment.
Arafat also insists on "an international border" for Jericho, which means expanding the area of Israel's initial withdrawal to the Jordan River, a senior PLO official said, speaking on condition of anonymity, said in Tunis.
The Israelis rejected this idea, the official said.
Arafat Wednesday headed back to Cairo from Tunis for meetings with Mubarak, who was expected to try to convince him to accept the deal.
Under the PLO-Israel accord signed Sept. 13 at the White House, Israel was to start withdrawing its troops from the Gaza Strip and Jericho on Dec. 13.
But the deadline was missed when Israel and PLO teams failed to resolve the sticking points.
They include control of crossing points from the territories to Jordan and Egypt, the size of the Jericho area to be given back by Israel and security for Jewish settlers who remain in the territories.
Peres said the delegations "have reached a meeting of the minds on the three or four major issues, which are the passage on the bridge, the Jericho area, and some items concerning the Gaza Strip."