The Israeli government was mulling on Friday a new plan for Middle East peace that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was to submit to the Americans during his US trip next week, state radio said. Sharon is to leave on Saturday for his fifth meeting with US President George W Bush since taking office 14 months ago. He is due to stay until Wednesday but details of his programme were not available. The Prime Minister told US television on Wednesday that he planned to present to Bush a serious plan, maybe the most serious that has been presented thus far for Middle East peace after 19 months of Israeli-Palestinian violence. The radio said that Sharon was to meet on Friday his mini-cabinet, comprising the leaders of the parties in his ruling coalition, to discuss his proposal. There was no official word on what the strategy involved but press reports in Jerusalem said that it was based on the idea of a long-term interim agreement with the Palestinians to be implemented through a regional conference.
Sharon's trip comes after the Middle East policy quartet Comprising the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations announced on Thursday plans to organise an international conference early this summer.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell said that the group would work in the coming weeks with Israel, the Palestinians and other nations to arrange a gathering to promote serious and accelerated negotiations toward a settlement.
The proposed conference made front-page headlines in the Israeli press with the ‘Maariv’ newspaper saying that it rendered Sharon's trip to the United States crucial.

Bureau Report