Peace Pact at Least a Month Away, Rabin Warns : Mideast: Text of latest Israel-PLO agreement shows both sides gave ground on key issues. Arafat flies to Jordan to meet with King Hussein.

Israeli officials cautioned Thursday that a final agreement on Palestinian self-rule is at least a month away, as Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat flew to Jordan to begin bringing other Arabs aboard the evolving peace process.

A day after the two sides initialed agreements on several of the key issues that have prevented the beginning of Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin predicted “it will be at least another month, if not more, until we reach a full agreement, before we begin its realization.”

In the occupied Gaza Strip, there was a mood of tempered optimism as Palestinians, who have watched for months the ins and outs of the faltering peace negotiations, waited for some concrete results.

“Without a doubt, the Palestinians see this as a big step forward. But in the meantime, this will not do anything for them. As long as the Israeli army patrols the streets and alleyways of the (refugee) camps in Gaza, as long as there are prisoners and wounded and roadblocks and unemployment, from the Palestinian perspective, nothing has changed,” Suffian abu Zaida, a PLO activist in the Gaza Strip, told Israel’s Army Radio.

The response from hard-liners on both sides was quick. Near Gaza, Islamic militants claimed they had kidnaped and killed an Israeli police officer, and authorities confirmed that in the area of the alleged attack they had found a bloodstained car belonging to a former border police officer.

Israel’s right wing condemned the preliminary accord, which they described as a sellout to the Palestinians that will pave the way for more Israeli concessions. “On the surface, it would seem that (Israel) has signed a treaty of surrender which does not even hint at security,” said Rehavam Zeevi, head of the rightist Homeland Party.

The text of the agreement made public Thursday indicates that both sides gave ground, though the Palestinians took the biggest bite of concessions by accepting Israeli control of Jewish settlements in Gaza, ultimate Israeli control of border crossings and limited control of religious and tourism sites outside of Jericho.

On the other hand, Israel agreed to a Palestinian presence and the display of the Palestinian flag at international border terminals, agreed to end searches of incoming Palestinians in most cases and gave Palestinians a foothold in the lucrative tourist market on the Dead Sea.

The details of the pact have been downplayed, said one source close to the talks, “maybe because this agreement could contain some concessions, and there needs to be a proper release of the information in order not to provoke worries and harsh criticism.”

These are the major issues agreed on in the documents signed late Wednesday in Cairo:

* Border terminals at entry points from Egypt and Jordan will be under the security supervision of Israel but will be divided into two wings. Residents of Gaza and Jericho will pass through the Palestinian wing and not come into contact with Israeli officials unless there is a need to search or question them. The Palestinian wing will include a Palestinian flag and a Palestinian armed guard. Other residents of the West Bank will be checked by both Palestinians and Israelis, and other travelers will pass through the Israeli wing. Negotiators left the question of whether there will be a Palestinian police officer on the border itself to be decided later by Arafat and Rabin when they meet.

* In the Gaza Strip, the areas of the Gush Katif and Erez settlements, as well as the Israeli military installation along the Egyptian border, will remain under Israeli authority, as will the east-west roads linking the Gaza Strip to Israel. Joint patrols on those roads will be headed by Israelis, and Israelis pursuing suspects in Gaza will hand over to Palestinian officials as soon as practical. Joint patrols in Jericho will be headed by Palestinians.

* In Jericho, in addition to the main area to be transferred to Palestinian self-rule, Palestinians are guaranteed safe passage to the religious sites of Nebi Mousa, revered by Muslims as Moses’ burial place, and Al Maghtas, thought to be the site of Jesus’ baptism. But instead of including those areas in the autonomy zone, the Palestinians will oversee them only for religious purposes. Palestinians also have the right of safe passage to private Palestinian development projects and joint ventures on the Dead Sea.

Still not agreed upon, however, is the size of the Jericho zone eventually to be transferred to Palestinian control. Palestinians, who originally sought up to 340 square kilometers (136 square miles) of the entire district around Jericho, have found themselves in grudging agreement in recent weeks with Israel’s final offer of 55 square kilometers (22 square miles). But sources said Arafat has reserved the right to bring up the issue with Rabin again.

In the points of agreement, the Palestinians “have agreed to a functional approach where the Israelis would have authority and powers to exercise their security responsibilities, and at the same time, it doesn’t derogate from the fact that we’re moving into a process where the Palestinians get more authority as you go along,” said one analyst familiar with the agreement.

Arafat, seeking to cool Jordanian concerns that the Palestinians have not adequately consulted with their Arab partners in the peace negotiations, arrived in Jordan on Thursday for a meeting with King Hussein.

Times research assistants Dianna Cahn and Emily Hauser in Jerusalem contributed to this report.