Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak warned Sunday that increased violence was likely if the Palestinians reject US President Bill Clinton's peace plan, and Israel would take unilateral action as a result.
"If the Palestinians are not prepared to advance the (peace) process, a negative response risks bringing an increase in violence," Barak's office quoted him as telling a weekly cabinet meeting.
"If this happens Israel will take time out and prepare for a unilateral splitting (from the Palestinian territories), while leaving the door open for resuming the process when the Palestinians are ready," he said.
"If the other side is not disposed, Israel will have its reply, and will be prepared for every eventuality," Barak added.
The Israeli government has told Clinton it accepts his plan in principle, but Barak has said he would not sign any accord giving the Palestinians sovereignty over east Jerusalem's mosque compound, which is sacred to Muslims but also sits on top of Judaism's holiest site.
"But that does not mean that there won't be creative ideas" on the issue, Barak told Israeli public radio earlier Sunday.
"We will work for an agreement with the Palestinians, but we will not sign an agreement at whatever price," he said.
Barak said he hoped Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat would give "a positive response" to the Clinton plan.
The Palestinians have not responded officially to Clinton's proposals, saying that more clarification is needed. The plan would theoretically give them all the Gaza Strip and 90 percent of the West Bank, as well as some areas of Jerusalem, but they would have to renounce the right of return of 3.7 million refugees, many of whom fled Israel on its creation in 1948.
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, speaking in Amman, Jordan, said the Palestinians were considering the plan seriously but needed more details.
He regretted that Washington was asking for an agreement to it in principle before explaining it further.
Meanwhile a group of leading rabbis has urged Clinton to drop all attempts to achieve a settlement until after Israel's prime ministerial elections on February 6, which Barak is forecast to lose to right-winger Ariel Sharon.
"It is extremely odd and undemocratic that agreements should be concluded for this and future generations by representatives who have no support," the rabbis told Clinton in a letter sent to US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk.
"We are signing in the name of all the generations who have prayed and sacrificed their lives for the Holy Land, Jerusalem and Temple Mount," the letter said.
Among the signatories were former Israeli chief rabbis Avraham Shapira and Mordechai Eliyahu.
Clinton is anxious to stitch up a peace accord before he steps down on January 20, but Sharon has said that if he is elected he will not recognize any deal.
On Saturday Barak was quoted by a Russian news agency as saying the electoral choice was between "Barak and war." -- JERUSALEM (AFP)
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