Palestinians Get Warm Welcome Home : Mideast: Delegation leader Faisal Husseini pledges to switch from stones to olive branches to end Israeli occupation.

Thousands of Arabs chanting and waving olive branches greeted Palestinian delegates returning Sunday to the occupied West Bank from what they called their triumph at the Madrid peace conference.

Their leader, Faisal Husseini, pledged to switch from stones to olive branches in the struggle to end Israeli occupation.

“Until now, the intifada (uprising) was with stones. Now, there is an intifada with olive branches. Now, if you want it, if the Israelis want it, the intifada can come with a new face,” said Husseini, head of the advisory committee.

In what appeared to be a direct appeal to Israelis to trust the Palestinians’ peaceful intentions, Husseini spoke in Hebrew on Israel Army Radio and in a rare appearance on Israel Television.

Since the uprising began in December, 1987, nearly 870 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops or civilians, and 74 Israelis have died. In addition, 464 Palestinians have been killed by other Arabs, most on suspicion of collaborating with Israel.

The returning delegates immediately began preparing for face-to-face bargaining with Israel over their demands for independence.

The venue has not been fixed, but delegates expect talks to start within two weeks. In the next round, Israel will hold separate talks with Syria, Lebanon and the Jordanian-Palestinian delegation.

U.S. diplomats eased the delegates’ passage through Israeli security checks at the Allenby Bridge crossing from Jordan.

Two buses carrying the delegates were mobbed by thousands of Palestinians shouting “Long live the Palestinian delegation” when they passed through Jericho.

Supporters pushed olive branches and flowers into the metal grilles of army and police vehicles and waved at bemused Israeli soldiers. One man held a white dove, symbol of peace.

Delegation spokeswoman Hanan Ashrawi’s 9-year-old daughter Zeinah, clutching a teddy bear and an olive branch, pushed through photographers to hug her tearful mother when the bus stopped at a checkpoint.

“I’m overwhelmed, absolutely overwhelmed. It’s a grand homecoming,” said Ashrawi, who won praise for her eloquent presentation of the Palestinian cause.

“After Madrid we have to start a new phase. We have to end the occupation and start looking at people as equal human beings,” she said.

Dr. Haidar Abdel-Shafi, who led the Palestinian team at the Madrid talks, was greeted by 5,000 supporters with olive branches when he returned to Gaza City.

Meanwhile, Jordan’s Writers Union in Amman expelled a prominent journalist Sunday because he gave interviews to Israel Television during the opening peace conference in Madrid.