France calls for declaration of Palestinian state

CACERES, Spain (CNN) -- France proposed an outline of a plan Saturday that calls for the immediate declaration of a Palestinian state and Palestinian elections, even before a cease-fire is reached in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.

French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine presented the plan for debate to his 14 colleagues at a European Union meeting in Spain, which currently holds the EU presidency.

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No decisions were made at the meeting, but the ministers expect to take up the proposals again at a February 18 meeting in Brussels, Belgium.

The plan flies in the face of U.S. priorities to broker a cease-fire in the region before political changes are sought.

The United States has been pressuring Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to clamp down on terrorism, and Israel has isolated Arafat at his government headquarters in Ramallah in the West Bank, where Israeli tanks are positioned outside.

Some foreign ministers at the meeting believed comments made Friday by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher were an attempt to head off the French proposal.

"The steps that need to be taken now are steps by Chairman Arafat to stop the violence," Boucher said.

But Spanish Foreign Minister Josep Pique, who chaired the meetings that began Friday, said political solutions must become a priority, since there has been no success in stopping the violence.

Also at the meeting, the Italians called for an international peace conference and a reconstruction plan for the Palestinian territories.

EU countries, especially Spain, have paid for some of the infrastructure -- including the Gaza airport -- destroyed in the Israeli attacks.

The Italians proposed that the peace conference be attended by EU leaders, the Palestinians and Israel, the United States, Russia and the United Nations.

Asked Friday at a U.S. State Department briefing about the upcoming French proposal, Boucher said the United States remains firm in its stance toward Arafat.

"There's been a lot of international support for that course. So, I think we'd say that remains our focus, and that's where we think the international focus should remain," Boucher said.

"Without saying something particular about these ideas, I think we've always felt introducing other elements that divert attention from that focus don't really move the situation forward."

Boucher said the United States remains committed to the Mitchell Plan, the blueprint for peace developed by a commission headed by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.

The Mitchell plan calls for an immediate cease-fire by the Palestinians and Israel and a resumption of joint security cooperation.