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Ross’ mission hampered by major divisions

'Palestine to be declared independent state in '99 if negotiations fail'
RAMALLAH . West Bank. May 13: A top Palestinian official said yesterday that the Palestinians would unilaterally announce an independent state in 1999 if negotiations with Israel did not bring them a nation, reports AFP.
'The accords with Israel set the Interim period as lasting for five years from the date of September 4. 1994. So the following day we will announce our independent state," said Ahmed Korei, President of the Legislative Council.
Korei made the comments in the West Bank self-rule area of Ramallah after meeting with a
delegation of Italian businessmen. lawyers and intellectuals.
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat has said in the past that a state will be announced at the end of the interim period, raising warnings by Israel of a sharp response if he does so.
The declaration of principles signed by Israel and the Palestinians in 1993 and the later "Oslo agreements" of 1994 launched self-rule in the West Bank and Gaza and set the end of the interim period in 1999.
The agreements also said negotiations for the final status of the Palestinians were due to be-
gin last March and be completed by 1999.
The Palestinians want to emerge from negotiations with a state and east Jerusalem as its capital. Israel has vowed not to divide Jerusalem and has demanded strict limitations on any eventual Palestinian entity in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, US Middle East envoy Dennis Ross' mission to the Middle East is being hampered by "major divisions" between Israelis and Palestinians but will be extended, the State Department said Monday.
Spokesman Nichols Burns said that the primary disputes were over Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.
Palestinian officials have asked for the Jewish colonisation to be frozen as a pre-condition for resuming talks with Israel that were interrupted two months ago.
"We believe both sides are negotiating in good faith and want to reconnect. Burns said.
Asked about the possibility that King Hussein would intervene to get the talks moving, he said only that the sovereign was already playing a major role, and was a genuine peacemaker".
According to a senior Jordanian officials Ross asked Monday in Amman for King Hussein's help in pulling the discussions out of the impasse.
The US envoy has been shuttling back and forth between Israel and the Palestinian territories for the past week and will be in the region until the end of the week.
Sunday, he met with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in the West Bank. Saturday, he went to Egypt to meet with President Hosni Mubarak.