Peres preparing go-it-alone peace initiative
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres is preparing an independent move aimed at breaking the deadlock with the Palestinians.
The newspaper Maariv has revealed the plan, which includes a pull-out from all of Gaza.
It also mentions the dismantling of Israel's settlements there, an idea in the past that has been opposed by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Peres says he will meet Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat at an economic conference in Majorca.
There has been growing tension between Sharon and members of Peres' moderate Labour party over the incursions in the West Bank.
According to Maariv, Mr Peres is finalising a proposal under which Israel would completely pull out of all of the Gaza Strip and dismantle the settlements there where some 7,000 Israelis live amid more than a million Palestinians. The newspaper claims the plan includes creating a Palestinian state.
Spokesman Yoram Dori confirmed Peres was preparing a peace plan to be released in coming days.
"Whether Sharon agrees or not, he will have to say," Mr Dori said.
Yasser Arafat has called on Mr Sharon to return to peace talks.
"I call on Sharon to go back to the negotiating table," he said.
"Let's go back to implementing the accords, let's go back to saving the peace process with no conditioning, no military pressures."
