West Bank Compromise Ignored PLO’s Wishes : Israel: Local Palestinians defused campus standoff as Arafat was urging students to hold out ‘until the end.’

A compromise between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators that defused a potentially explosive standoff at a West Bank university last week was forged against the wishes of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which pressed for its followers to stand firm against military threats to storm the campus, Palestinian sources said Sunday.

An agreement between the government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and local Palestinian leaders reached last Friday ended a three-day siege of An Najah University in Nablus by Israeli troops. The Palestinians persuaded six fugitives to accept banishment to Jordan in return for a pledge by the Israelis to permit more than 1,000 students, who had shielded the fugitives, to return home unhindered and without going through identity checks.

At his headquarters in Tunisia, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat had urged the students, who holed up on campus without food, to hold out “until the end.” But local leaders, led by Jerusalem activist Faisal Husseini, accepted the Israeli expulsion offer.

“The PLO was presented with a fait accompli ,” said a Palestinian who was deeply involved in the negotiations. “Arafat had to swallow it.”

The deal to avoid bloodshed was the first such accord attempted during 4 1/2 years of Palestinian rebellion against Israeli rule. It is unusual for leaders in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, many of whom pledge loyalty to the PLO, to take such independent action. In this case, the evident wishes of Nablus residents for a peaceful ending and the concern among Husseini and others that a blood bath would derail the renewal of Middle East peace talks encouraged the mood to compromise.

“The PLO is living in another world. They don’t understand what is going on here,” a Palestinian political scientist said.

Husseini’s success is expected to raise his stature among Palestinians who view the ability to deliver as a key component of leadership. However, Palestinian observers caution, he must be sure not to flaunt the accomplishment to the embarrassment of the PLO and Arafat, who is protective of his self-proclaimed role as sole leader of the Palestinians.

Husseini is a top PLO representative in the West Bank and has aggressively pressed for Palestinian participation in the peace talks, which began last fall and are expected to resume in September. He is head of the peace delegation from the West Bank and Gaza.

He consulted with the PLO in Tunisia during the campus standoff but accepted the agreement with Israel independently.

Palestinians here regarded the resolution of the An Najah crisis as a model for how negotiations with Israel are supposed to work. Each side gave in on traditionally rigid principles, with the Palestinians agreeing to the expulsions and the Israelis respecting a kind of autonomy for the campus. The United States, through Molly Williamson, its consul general in Jerusalem, took part in the talks by telephone and fax, lending American weight in favor of a peaceful outcome.

Some key members of the PLO viewed the unfolding confrontation as a means of sinking or at least postponing the impending peace talks.

The PLO, which has played an offstage role in the negotiations, is not ready to enter the nitty-gritty of bargaining, Palestinians say. The group fears losing public relations points to Rabin, who is apparently prepared to make sweeping offers for self-rule for the West Bank and Gaza Palestinians. Some factions of the PLO oppose the talks altogether.

In addition, Palestinian analysts say, Arafat is facing challenges to his leadership and may not be in a position to make important decisions.

Secretary of State James A. Baker III, who arrived in Jerusalem on Sunday, is expected to meet with local Palestinian leaders today. He will urge them to make peace initiatives, U.S. officials say, and to stop concerning themselves with symbolic issues about whether the PLO is at the negotiating table or not.