TEHRAN -- President Ali Abdullah Saleh has canceled plans to celebrate Yemen's National Day on May 22 in solidarity with the plight of the Palestinians, officials said Sunday.

The decision was taken "in solidarity with the Palestinian people faced with the aggression carried out by Israeli forces of occupation," one official said.

Tens of thousands of Yemenis have taken to the streets in protest against the killings of Palestinians in the Israeli offensive on the West Bank since late March.

North and South Yemen officially united on May 22, 1990, and the event is marked by a national holiday.

Meanwhile, Persian Gulf newspapers on Sunday referred to Washington's proposal for a new international Middle East peace conference to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a "plot."

"The proposal is tantamount to a plot aimed at finishing off what (Israeli prime minister) Ariel Sharon could not liquidate by the force of arms," wrote Qatar's **** Al-Watan ***** in a reference to Israel's onslaught on the West Bank.

The proposed gathering would be a "waste of time" and aimed at "burying the (1993) Oslo Accord" which provided for interim Palestinian self-rule leading up to a final status agreement, said **** Al-Raya **** another Qatari daily.

The conference was the brainchild of the "war criminal Sharon" which the U.S. Administration took upon itself to promote "despite the criticism it has sparked at the Arab and international levels," the paper said.

Wondering whether the proposed conference would be designed to achieve peace or to "deceive," Oman's **** Al-Watan **** said Washington was "getting bogged down in the Israeli quagmire in a way that puts U.S. interests in the Middle East at risk."

The conference would be a smoke screen for plans to disband Yasser Arafat's Palestinian Authority, the paper said, recalling repeated references by U.S. officials to a "new Palestinian leadership."

The meeting was doomed "so long as the United States continues to do Sharon's bidding at the expense of the Palestinian people's legitimate rights," warned Saudi Arabia's ****Al-Yaum*****.

The Israeli prime minister came up with the conference idea in order to "avoid resuming negotiations (with the Palestinians) from the point at which they stopped" under former U.S. president Bill Clinton, said **** Al-Yaum *****, which, like other Saudi papers, reflects official thinking in the kingdom, AFP reported.

"No one should pin high hopes on the proposed conference because the Israeli approach to peace is liable to turn it into a minefield," said **** Al-Watan**** , another Saudi daily.

"The mines would go off in the face of anyone who would trust the Jewish state," the paper added.

The United States, which co-sponsored the 1991 Middle East peace conference in Madrid, announced the proposed new gathering on Thursday, with the backing of the United Nations, the European Union (EU) and Russia.