GAZA CITY, May 29: A top Egyptian envoy began a shuttle mission on Wednesday to try to bring Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table, but Palestinian officials were already rebuffing the latest Israeli ideas for reviving peace talks.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat said after meeting Egyptian envoy Ossama el-Bazthat that a summit meeting on Tuesday between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had failed to produce a sought-after halt to Jewish settlement construction in disputed East Jerusalem.

Arafat said Baz brought him a letter from Mubarak detailing the outcome of Tuesday's summit, but he gave no details other than to say that Netanyahu did not agree to Palestinian demands to freeze Jewish home building in Arab areas.

According to Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, Netanyahu offered at Tuesday's summit to ensure progress in implementing overdue Israeli commitments under a 1995 interim peace agreement as a way of enticing the Palestinians back into negotiations.

The Palestinians rejected the offer, he said.

``Netanyahu brought to the summit articles of agreements which were supposed to be implemented during the transitional period and he presented them as something new. These are used goods and we know it,'' he said.

``He did not talk about settlements or land confiscation, which are the main issues,'' he said.

``The Palestinians will not go for any compromise that will allow Israel to continue its settlement policy while also continuing the peace process.''Despite the lack of movement on the settlement issue, Arafat praised the Egyptian mediation effort, calling his talks with Baz ``positive and constructive about steps which could be taken to protect the peace process.''

Baz for his part cautioned not to expect ``to reach an understanding in one step'' and said he would continue his mission by meeting with the Israelis in the next few days ``to search for ways of activating the peace process.''

Despite the lack of any clear progress towards resuming Israeli-Palestinian negotiations soon, Netanyahu met with his main cabinet ministers on Wednesday to begin discussions on Israeli proposals for a final peace settlement for the occupied territo ries, Israel radio said. It provided no details of the discussions, but Israeli press reports have said Netanyahu's plan would retain Israeli sovereignty over more than 50 per cent of the West Bank and insist the future Palestinian entity be demilitarized and share control over its water resources and air space.

Netanyahu is due in June to visit the United States where he will meet President Bill Clinton. This will be his fifth trip there since his election as Prime Minister on May 29 last year. His most recent visit to Washington was in April but no firm dates have been disclosed for the forthcoming trip.

Israeli-US relations have grown tense in recent months due to the stalemate in the peace process.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.