Palestinians Detail Self-Rule Proposal : Mideast: Arabs call for a West Bank and Gaza legislature by October.

Palestinian delegates submitted a detailed 16-page self-government proposal Tuesday, calling for election of a legislature for the West Bank and Gaza Strip by the end of September and withdrawal of all Israeli forces from the occupied territories a month later.

Israeli officials said the plan appears to be unacceptable, although they promised to study it before issuing their point-by-point response. Their reply probably will come today during the final meetings of this round of Middle East peace talks.

Palestinian spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi said the proposal fills in details of the self-government plan submitted in January. It specifies that the interim government will be based on an elected 190-member legislative assembly that would negotiate with Israel about the final status of the territories.

“We call on Israel to cease all activities, primarily settlement activities and human rights violations in the occupied territories” to clear the way for elections, Ashrawi said. “We also ask Israel to carry out certain necessary steps, such as the release of all political prisoners, the release of administrative detainees (and) the lifting of censorship.”

Yosef Ben-Aharon, Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s chief of staff, dismissed the Palestinian plan as “an attempt to present the model of a Palestinian state.” Because Israel is determined never to permit establishment of such a state, he said, “this paper . . . is just futile and unnecessary.” Nevertheless, Ben-Aharon said his delegation will provide a more detailed reply later.

He said that Israel “submitted a paper that calls for negotiations on . . . spheres of cooperation between Israel and the inhabitants of the territories,” an approach that Ashrawi rejected as a plan to perpetuate the Israeli occupation.

Ashrawi said the Palestinian plan assumes that the interim self-governing authority would take power by Oct. 29, one year after the peace talks began in Madrid. She said the legislature should be elected at least a month earlier.

Although the gap between the Israeli and Palestinian positions is so wide that it appears to be unbridgeable, participants on both sides cited the rival presentations as proof that the negotiators were discussing the core issues of the long dispute. No such claims could be made for Israel’s separate talks with Syria, Jordan and Lebanon.

The talks are scheduled to recess today until mid-April because of religious observances for Ramadan and Passover.

Meanwhile, the State Department’s chief human rights strategist announced his resignation but denied published reports that he is quitting to protest Secretary of State James A. Baker III’s firm opposition to Israel’s policy of building Jewish settlements in the occupied territories.

“I have personally told Secretary Baker of my great admiration for his perseverance and dedication to the peace process,” Richard Schifter said in a statement with his resignation after six years as assistant secretary of state for human rights. “I also share his view on the issue of settlements.”

The Washington Times reported Tuesday that Schifter, long a staunch supporter of Israel, was leaving because of U.S.-Israeli friction and because he believes that the State Department’s report on human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza is too harsh in its assessment of Israeli activities. The report, compiled by Schifter’s office, originated in the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem. Schifter’s office has little authority to change such reports.

Schifter, 68, is one of the last Reagan Administration holdovers remaining in a high-level post.

In a related development, Baker denied that he is considering a plan to reduce Israel’s regular foreign aid allocation, if Shamir refuses to stop all settlement activity. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said Monday after a meeting with Baker that the secretary is readying such an approach. But Baker said that he has not changed his previously announced position to withhold all or part of $10 billion in loan guarantees if Israel continues building settlements.