AMMAN. Nov 10 : The next stage of the Middle East peace conference will be very difficult' and marked by political confrontation with Israel, the spokeswoman of the Palestinian delegation to the forum said here Saturday, reports AFP.

The Palestinians have Internationa] legality. Justice and determination on their side, Hanan Ashrawi told a news conference In Amman.

But Israel has military might and is exercising Its hegemony over the occupied territories, she added.

This, Ashrawi said, will mean that the next stage of the conference will be very difficult and the start of a long path marked by political confrontation with Israel.

Ashrawi said that Palestinian delegates to the peace conference as well as their advisors would return home to the occupied territories today (Sunday).

The Palestinian team at-

tended the peace conference which opened October 30 in Madrid as part of a joint delegation with Jordan and last Sunday took part in face to face talks with Israeli officials.

But the bilateral negotiations were suspended as the Arab and Israeli parties disagreed over the venue for later meetings.

In reply to a question on whether the Palestinians would agree to hold talks with Israel in Washington, Ashrawi said that the United States capital was not per cent neutral because of the presence of the Jewish lobby and the unlimited support of the US Congress to Israel.

A reliable source in Jordan on Friday said the next round of bilateral talks would resume In Washington on November 22 but the US State Department has failed to confirm the report.

Israel has demanded that the talks resume in the Middle East, preferably at locations in Israel and in the Arab countries Involved in the negotiations.

The Arab delegations have however sought a neutral venue outside the Middle East.

Reuter adds : PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat met Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday as part of intensive preparations for a second round of peace talks between the Arabs and Israel.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation is officially excluded from the peace process launched at a ground-breaking conference in Madrid at the end of last month.

But it guided Palestinian negotiators from behind the scenes and in the six days since the conference, Arafat

has toured Jordan, Syria and Yemen to plan strategy for the second round:

"The PLO want to show they're still in control, that’s very Important at this stage." a senior Arab diplomat said.

Arafat was in Amman at the same time as members of the Palestinian delegation returning from Madrid but it is not known whether he met them. The Israelis have threatened to wklk out of the talks if the PLO is officially Involved.

There was no immediate word on the substance of Arafat talks with Mubarak. Relations between Egypt and the PLO were badly strained by Arafat's support for Iraq in the Gulf War but the two sides have been working together closely since the run-up to the Madrid conference.

The need for coordination was clear as Arab parties to the peace process took different tracks on its complex procedure.

The plan is for three sets of bilateral talks between Israel and each of Syria, Lebanon and a Palestinian-Jordanian team, and separate multinational talks on regional issues such as water and arms control.