Israel raps US on planned talks

Israel issued a rare rebuke to Washington, its closest ally, yesterday, saying US Secretary of State Colin Powell would be making a mistake if he met the architects of a symbolic Middle East peace plan.

Mr Powell responded by saying at a news conference in Tunis he had a right to meet anyone with ideas on Middle East peace.

Israeli Vice Premier Ehud Olmert sharply criticised Mr Powell for praising the unofficial Geneva Accord, whose co-authors are trying to capitalise on broad international support following its launch on Monday at a gala ceremony in Switzerland.

"I think he (Mr Powell) is making a mistake," Mr Olmert told Israel Radio of the expected talks. "I think he is not helping the process. I think this is a wrong step by a representative of the American administration."

Both Israel's right-leaning government and Palestinian militants spearheading a three-year-old uprising have denounced the agreement, drafted by moderates from both sides, as "capitulation".

US officials say Mr Powell is willing to meet the plan's co-authors in Washington later this week, a sign of growing impatience with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's foot-dragging on a stalled international peace "road map". Mr Powell, on a three-nation North African tour, did not explicitly say if he would meet the would-be peacemakers, Israeli left-wing opposition politician Yossi Beilin and former Palestinian cabinet member Yasser Abed Rabbo.