Israel issued a rare rebuke to Washington, its closest ally, on Tuesday, saying US Secretary of State Colin Powell would be making a mistake if he met the architects of a symbolic Middle East peace plan.  

Powell responded by saying at a news conference in Tunis he had a right to meet anyone with ideas on ending the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Later, on a flight to the Moroccan city Marrakesh, Powell told reporters he expected to meet the authors of the unofficial peace plan, known as the Geneva Accord, possibly on Friday.

The main architects of the proposal, Israeli left-wing opposition politician Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian cabinet member Yasser Abed Rabbo, are expected to be in Washington later this week to meet people inside and outside the administration, Powell said.

"I would expect in the course of those conversations to have a chance to see them. (It) might be Friday."

A spokesman for Beilin also said the meeting with Powell was expected on Friday.

Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert sharply criticized Powell for praising the accord, whose authors are trying to capitalize on broad international support following its launch on Monday at a gala ceremony in Switzerland.

"I think he (Powell) is making a mistake," Olmert told Israel Radio of the expected talks. "I think he is not helping the process. I think this is a wrong step by a representative of the American administration."

Both Israel's right-leaning government and Palestinian militants spearheading a three-year-old uprising have denounced the agreement, drafted by moderates from both sides, as "capitulation."

US officials said earlier that Powell was willing to meet the plan's authors, a sign of growing impatience with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's foot-dragging on a stalled international peace "road map."

Underlining the obstacles facing any new peace push, Israeli troops shot and killed a militant linked to Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction during a tank raid in the West Bank town of Jenin on Tuesday, security sources said.

Soldiers later shot dead a Palestinian who threw a petrol bomb at an Israeli car north of the West Bank city of Ramallah, an army spokesman said.

Powell rebuffs Olmert

Powell, rebuffing Olmert's criticism, said: "I do not know why I or anyone else in the US government should deny ourselves the opportunity to hear from others who are committed to peace and who have ideas."

Listening to individuals "who have interesting ideas" on peace, Powell said, "no way undercuts our strong support for the state of Israel."

Powell, and the State Department he heads, are widely viewed in Israel as less supportive of Sharon's government than US President Bush. They are also seen as taking a back seat to the White House in setting policy toward Israel.

Like the road map initiative, the Geneva Accord envisages a Palestinian state in Israeli-occupied territory.

But it goes beyond the road map by calling for the removal of Jewish settlements, division of Jerusalem and the right of Israel to decide how many Palestinian refugees to accept.

Arafat and his prime minister, Ahmed Qurie, have welcomed the Geneva initiative but stopped short of endorsing it.

(China Daily December 3, 2003)