Barak told Channel 2 TV the ideas President Bill Clinton had raised were, nevertheless, "tough, heartrending. I am torn within."
Clinton presented his ideas at a joint meeting with the Israeli and Palestinian negotiating teams on Saturday. A picture released later suggested the businesslike nature of that session. The negotiators, including Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben-Ami, other Israeli members and Palestinian Minister of Local Governance Saeb Erakat were sitting at a long table taking notes as Clinton gesticulated.
Barak said he believed that if Arafat would say "yes" to U.S. ideas, then Israel could not refuse to consider them, especially "at such a dramatic timing," from Clinton's point of view and in light of the U.S. president's investment of seven and a half years in attempts to advance peace.
An Israeli refusal would entail "a heavy international price" if Clinton and Arafat were to say yes; "all of Europe and the entire world would see [the] yes, and Israel would be the one who rejects it," Barak added.
Arafat's media adviser, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, told reporters in Gaza that the debates on Clinton's proposal would be resumed on Tuesday in order to give the Palestinian Authority the final response to the proposal.
"We are studying this proposal and most probably it will be discussed thoroughly with the Palestinian leadership and with the Arab countries, and then we would give the Americans an answer as soon as we finish," he said.
However, Abu Rudeineh said that Palestinians need clarification on certain points in the American proposal related to final status issues and other remaining issues from the interim agreements.
Arafat's chief of staff, Tayeb Abdel Rahim, said earlier that the Palestinian Authority has the right to reject any proposed agreement that conflicts with the interests of the Palestinian people.
He said that the Palestinian Authority has been authorized by the Palestinian people to accept a permanent settlement agreement with Israel, adding, "But we have first to study everything ... and [very carefully] weigh things
There has been no authoritative report of Clinton's ideas. Israeli media reports said they called for dividing East Jerusalem so that the Arab-inhabited sectors will be Palestinian, while the Old City's Jewish Quarter and part of the Armenian Quarter will be under Israel. The Palestinians would have sovereignty over the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site that is also the third holiest Islamic site, while Israel would have the Western Wall.
The media reported that under the proposals, Israel would withdraw from the Gaza Strip and 95 percent of the West Bank. It would accept a limited number of Palestinian refugees under a humanitarian program, but most would be settled elsewhere.
Well-informed sources said some of those reports are correct, some are speculative and some are misleading, but declined to set the record straight.
One senior government official, who spoke to UPI on condition of anonymity, said the proposed package contains hundreds of elements.
The source said the Jerusalem issue is the most painful to Israel, while the refugee issue hurts Palestinians the most.
Barak said Monday he would not lend his hand "to something that will harm our attachment and tie" to the Temple Mount. However, he seemed to differentiate between relics buried in the mount that date back to the first and second Jewish temples, and the Moslem shrines that are above its surface.
The Jewish people's interest is below ground level, he said. There, "the essential anchor of our identity exists," he added, noting the temples preceded Islam.
However, he continued, Moslem mosques have been there for 1,300 years.
One well-informed Israeli source who said he was familiar with the entire package told UPI he believed Clinton's suggestions "are the closest thing to what would happen when there is peace, whether it would be in a few months or in 20 or 30 years."
"It is an historic opportunity," the source continued. It looks like something that could last, he added.
The elements in Clinton's proposal favorable to Israel concern the refugees, a declaration ending the dispute, and peace.
The elements concerning Jerusalem are the toughest for Israel to accept, he suggested.
The source said there is a formula concerning the Temple Mount "that has not been published, and it is surprising and interesting."
There will be a need for a lot of fine-tuning, he added.
Barak confirmed he had to respond to Clinton's ideas by Wednesday. He indicated he might see Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Arafat. A government official who spoke on condition of anonymity expected Clinton to meet Barak and Arafat separately, and if matters move ahead there might be a tripartite summit.
Meanwhile, Barak had to cope with domestic criticism of the emerging agreement.
A public opinion poll published Monday in Yediot Aharonot indicated that 48 percent of the respondents oppose the reported U.S. ideas, 43 percent said they would support the agreement, and 9 percent did not respond.
Israeli public opinion, according to the polls, has shifted in recent weeks, with less insistence on having one Jerusalem eternally united under Israeli rule.
Sixty percent of the respondents said they would agree to ceding control over East Jerusalem's Arab-inhabited sectors, 39 percent said they would oppose it, and 1 percent did not answer.
An absolute majority – 51 percent – also supported transferring 95 percent of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to Palestinian rule while maintaining several settlement blocks.
However, 72 percent said they would oppose a return of even a limited number of Palestinian refugees.
The head of the dovish Meretz Party, Yossi Sarid, said that accepting the Palestinian refugees' right to return "means Israel is committing suicide and we have no such plans, to commit suicide, as far as I know."
There are some 3.5 million refugees, according to the United Nations figures.
The Yediot Aharonot polls also show that 57 percent of the respondents oppose ceding Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount.
Science Minister Matan Vilnay said Monday the Temple Mount must remain in Israeli sovereignty, and the spiritual leader of the Shas Party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, objected to ceding it.
Barak said Monday there would be no agreement "unless the citizens approve it." He has talked of the Feb. 6 elections for prime minister as a sort of referendum.
But that did not satisfy the hawks. Shaul Yahalom of the National Religious Party said Barak concessions would become symbolic of what Israel was ready to accept and anyone who offered less than that would fail.
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