Mayor backs 'God's Jerusalem'

Arafat and Mubarak met for the sixth time since Camp David

As the year-long period allocated for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians enters its final fortnight, new proposals are being discussed aimed at solving the toughest question, Jerusalem.

Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert said he supported proposals to hand over sovereignty in parts of the city - the most sensitive holy areas - to God.

Olmert: Continuation of the status quo

The "divine sovereignty" solution has been proposed by certain academics and religious leaders as a way of defusing the highly-charged territorial claims made by either side.

On Tuesday, the idea was endorsed by Palestinian Cabinet minister Ziad Abu Zayyad in an interview on Israel TV.

Mayor Olmert, a hard-line opposition figure who opposes any territorial concessions to the Palestinians, said he agreed inasmuch as divine sovereignty "offers a continuation of the present status quo".

"It means that there is complete security control over the Temple Mount by Israel and at the same time a complete access for Muslims to the holy sites of Islam," Mr Olmert said.

Correspondents say that the mayor's intervention marks the first time that a leading Likud figure has supported a plan that appears to fall short of full Israeli control over the entire city.

Holy sites

Wednesday's Israeli press reported that the US had come up with new proposals to solve the Jerusalem conundrum, ahead of next week's planned bilateral meetings between President Clinton and the Israeli and Palestinian leaders at next week's UN millennium summit in New York.

Israel has occupied east Jerusalem since 1967

Haaretz says the Americans suggest dividing the Temple Mount or Haram al-Sharif, which houses the Aqsa Mosque and the Wailing Wall, into four sections each under different "mix" of sovereignty.

The Camp David summit in July failed to break the Israeli-Palestinian deadlock, in part as a result of mutually exclusive positions on the Old City and holy places in east Jerusalem.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat insisted on full Palestinian control over all of east Jerusalem, which Israel captured and occupied in defiance of international law in 1967.

Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak said he could never give up sovereignty over the Temple Mount, but offered Palestinians administrative control in suburbs close to the heart of the city.

Diplomatic intensity

The US and Egypt have been working to present new ideas on how to resolve the deadlock over Jerusalem.

Moussa: The logic of justice

President Clinton was briefed by President Husni Mubarak on mediation efforts during a stop-over in Egypt at the end of his African tour.

On Wednesday, Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa said the Palestinians' rights to sovereignty in Jerusalem must be respected.

"As there is Israeli sovereignty over west Jerusalem there should be Palestinian sovereignty over east Jerusalem. This is the logic of justice... and of international agreements," Mr Moussa told journalists.

He was speaking after Mr Arafat held his sixth round of talks with President Mubarak since the collapse of the Camp David summit.