Two radical Damascus-based Palestinian groups, main members of the Palestine Liberation Organization with Yasser Arafat's Fateh movement, condemned Tuesday a scheduled meeting between US President Bill Clinton and Arafat on peace with Israel.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) branded the meeting as an attempt to abort the Intifada, the three-month Palestinian uprising and strengthen Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak before he faces voters in an election February 6.
"US proposals are Israeli proposals and go against UN resolutions since they reject the right of return of Palestinian refugees as well as Palestinian sovereignty over Jerusalem and the occupied territories", spokesman Maher Taher said in a statement.
"We demand a new policy directed at prolonging and intensifying the Intifada until independence and the expulsion of the occupants is achieved", he added.
For his part, Fahd Suleiman, a senior DFLP official, said the Washington meeting was a result of "US pressure on Yasser Arafat to make him accept a deal which does not meet the minimum Palestinian requirements".
Palestinian leader Arafat wants clarification from Clinton on his outline plan for settling the 52-year conflict between Israel and the Palestinians dating from the foundation of the Jewish state.
The Clinton framework would theoretically give the Palestinians all the Gaza Strip and 94 to 96 percent of the West Bank, as well as some areas of Jerusalem, but they would have to renounce the right of return for most of their 3.7 million refugees -- DAMASCUS (AFP)
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