Arab foreign ministers kicked off talks in Damascus concerning the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the US confrontation with Iraq. Israel has meanwhile asked Washington to delay the release of 'roadmap' peace plan until the end of general elections in January. In the Syrian capital, Arab League chief Amr Mussa and 11 foreign ministers began discussing the US-backed roadmap for peace that looks to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel by 2005.

The plan, drafted by the diplomatic quartet of the United States, Russia, European Union and the United Nations, has been accepted in principle by the Palestinians and Arab states like Egypt and Jordan.

Israel also backed the plan, although its newly appointed Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has since said it is "not on the agenda" for the narrow right-wing caretaker government that will hold power until early elections in late January.

Syria and its smaller neighbour Lebanon have given a lukewarm response to the proposal which they perceive as not addressing Syria's rights to the Golan Heights, which Israel captured from Syria in 1967.

The roadmap was discussed with Arab states by US envoy William Burns during a regional tour last month.

The two-day meeting gathers the foreign ministers of Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Yemen and the Palestinian Authority, who make up with Mussa a follow-up committee for an Arab peace initiative.

The Saudi-inspired initiative adopted by the Arab summit held in March in Beirut offers Israel normal ties with the Arab world in return for its withdrawal from all the territories occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

Tunisian Foreign Minister Habib Ben Yahia and Libya's Minister for African Unity Ali Abdel Salam Triki were also attending the meeting.

The ministers and Mussa are to meet Thursday morning with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

ISRAEL ASKS U.S. TO DELAY RELEASTE OF "ROAD MAP" UNTIL AFTER ELECTIONS

Israel has meanwhile asked the United States to delay the release of the long-awaited "road map" to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict until after general elections the Jewish state will hold in January.

It is was not immediately clear if the appeal would alter plans for the expected release of the plan on December 20, but Israeli deputy Prime Minister Natan Sharansky made clear that Israel oppose that date.

Sharansky said debate within Israel on the plan would be complicated if it were set out before the January 28 polls.
Sharansky was speaking to reporters after meeting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage.

Sharansky, who also holds the housing ministry portfolio in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's caretaker government, said he had delivered that message on behalf of Sharon to Armitage and US Vice President Dick Cheney.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher said earlier Wednesday that the road map was expected to be announced on December 20 at a ministerial-level meeting of the international diplomatic quartet on the Middle East, which has been formulating the plan.

The US State Department on Wednesday would not comment on the date announced by Moasher but diplomatic sources in Washington said the United States was indeed looking at December 20 for a possible meeting of the quartet principals to unveil the road map.

The principals include US Secretary of State Colin Powell, UN chief Kofi Annan, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and EU foreign relations commissioner Chris Patten.

There was no immediate comment from the State Department on Sharansky's request.

Last week, however, a senior department official conceded that Israel's domestic situation had for the moment delayed significant progress in the development of the road map.

Israel is facing not only the general election in January but a primary next week to determine the leadership of Sharon's Likud party.

Sharon is being challenged for the position by his Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who earlier Wednesday condemned the prime minister for supporting the creation of a Palestinian state.

PHOTO CAPTION

Foreign Ministers Farouk al-Sharaa, left, of Syria, Prince Saud, center, of Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Mubarak of Bahrain, head to a meeting of Arab ministers Wednesday Nov. 20, 2002, at a hotel in the Syrian capital of Damascus. Arab foreign ministers are holding two days of consultations on the U.S.-Iraq standoff and a U.S.-backed peace plan to calm Palestinian-Israeli violence.(AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi).
- Nov 20 1:53