Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh said in comments published Sunday that US President Bill Clinton's last-ditch plan for a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians was "doomed to failure."
"We support the peace process within the framework of international law, but any new agreement that falls outside this law is doomed to failure," newspapers quoted Saleh as saying.
He was referring to Clinton's plan for a final peace agreement before he leaves office on January 20 and US President-elect George W. Bush takes his place.
Saleh stressed his "support for the Al-Aqsa Intifada so the Palestinian people regain their lawful rights" and denounced Israel for its "war of extermination" against this people.
Washington should "reconsider its position" against sending an international force to protect the Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, Saleh said, criticizing US policy in the region.
"At a time when the Palestinian people is being suppressed and finds itself under a blockade from Zionist forces, the international community keeps silent," he said.
Clinton still hopes to clinch a deal and both Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have accepted in principle a set of compromises he has drafted.
But the two sides remain sharply divided over the status of Jerusalem and the fate of 3.7 million Palestinian refugees.
Since the Intifada, or uprising against Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, erupted at the end of September, almost 370 people have been killed, the vast majority Palestinian -- SANAA (AFP)
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