JERUSAI.EM, July 6: A senior aide to PLO Chief Yasser Arafat has made a rare direct appeal to Israel, declaring he is prepared to fly to Tel Aviv this week to talk peace, reports Reuter.

Arafat aide Bassam Abu Sharif, speaking by telephone from Turds late on Monday to a popular Israel television political programme, said: There is a plane that goes to Tel Aviv next Friday. I'll take that plane and I’ll come to Tel Aviv."

Israel, which was termed the PLO as a terrorist group bent on its destruction, officially refuses to talk to the organisation.

But Jewish state indirectly acknowledges that the PLO directs the Palestinian team to Arab-Israeli peace bilks, and an Israeli law banning contacts with the group has been repealed.

The US-brokered Middle East peace talks have ground to a virtual standstill in recent rounds.

An Amman report says : Arafat accused Washington today of trying to bypass the original terms of reference of the US-led Middle East peace process, launched In Madrid in October 1991.

Arafat arrived in Amman today, saying the PLO had rejected a US draft aimed at bridging Palestinian-Israeli differences on self-rule in the occupied territories.

He flew in hours after Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres arrived in Carlo amid a flurry of diplomatic consultations to try and salvage the process which has made no progress despite 10 rounds of talks between Israel and Its Arab foes.

"In general, we have re-

jected this American document because it overstepped the basis of the peace process ... the Madrid terms of reference, and the implementation of (UN Security Council Resolutions) 242 and 338," he told reporters.

"And there is an attempt to bypass these terms of reference."

The two resolutions call on Israel to trade Arab lands it seized in 1967 in return for peace and to form the basis of the peace process.

Arafat said the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s (PLO) executive committee took its final stand on the three-page document after three days of deliberations in Tyiis, but noted that meetings'were still continuing to evaluate any developments.

The Palestinians oppose the paper because it does not spell

out that their self-rule government would, have authority over Jerusalem and does not define the scope of their jurisdiction In the territories.

Israel has criticised the United States for amending the paper to take into account Palestinian objections and Washington said on Sunday its patience was running out.

While at Cairo Airport, Arafat met Egyptian presidential Advisor Osama Al- Baz for talks on the process.

Egypt, the only Arab country to have signed a peace treaty with Israel, believes the US document could serve as a basis for continuing the negotiations.

Arafat is expected to meet King Hussein later in the day for a briefing on the monarch's recent visit to Washington and his talks with US President Bill Clinton.