Israel, PLO Move Fast in Resuming Talks

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators moved swiftly to resume talks on Palestinian self-rule Thursday as Israel pledged to speed its withdrawal from Jericho and the Gaza Strip and said it will consider granting Palestinians even more autonomy than promised earlier.

Arab negotiators said they were optimistic that the two sides could reach final agreement on an Israeli troop withdrawal to take place within a few days of the April 13 target date, as the delegations plunged into a five-day-a-week schedule to try to speed an accord on Palestinian self-rule.

The first Palestinian police will begin establishing a presence in Gaza and Jericho within a week, under terms of a new security agreement signed Thursday, with the first contingent of 15 liaison officers tentatively scheduled to arrive as early as Monday.

President Clinton on Thursday directed the release of up to $4 million in Defense Department equipment and services to help establish the Palestinian police force.

Looking exhausted but upbeat after two days of all-night bargaining, the two chief negotiators--Maj. Gen. Amnon Lipkin Shahak, who heads the Israeli delegation, and Nabil Shaath, chief delegate for the Palestine Liberation Organization--signed the agreement on security guarantees for Palestinians in Hebron. Under its terms, Israel for the first time accepted the presence of foreign forces--160 international observers from Norway, Denmark and Italy--in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Israel also took the unusual step of officially acknowledging the U.N. Security Council resolution condemning the massacre of about 30 Palestinians Feb. 25 by an Israeli settler in Hebron, which triggered a crisis in the peace talks and led to Palestinian demands for new security measures.

Israel agreed that the two sides will explore expanded negotiations on self-rule--beyond the areas of security, legal affairs, water, electricity and economics. This could provide an important boost to Palestinian hopes for meaningful autonomy and go beyond the Declaration of Principles signed in September, under which Israel first pledged limited autonomy in parts of the occupied territories.

In Israel, the agreement to permit foreign forces in the territories after more than two decades of staunch resistance triggered a torrent of protest--not only from Israel’s conservative political right and opposition Palestinian factions, but from the majority of Hebron residents, whom the agreement seeks to protect.

Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin called the decision “an exceptional measure which had to be taken, in view of the horrible event that took place in the Cave of the Patriarchs, since it was carried out by an Israeli using a weapon given to him by the (Israeli Defense Forces) for self-defense and while he was wearing an Israeli uniform.”

After the brief signing ceremony, negotiators immediately resumed talks on Palestinian self-rule. The Israeli team later went home but was scheduled to return to resume the talks at the beginning of next week.

Under the security agreement, roundly condemned by Palestinians in the occupied territories as inadequate, 160 lightly armed international observers, reporting to a Palestinian-Israeli committee, will establish a security presence in Hebron. Although their function is to provide reassurance and monitoring, the observers will lack real power. Their initial mandate is for three months, renewable with the consent of both sides.

Palestinians dropped their demand for a Palestinian police force in Hebron after the PLO, in an eleventh-hour session of the leadership Wednesday night, decided on a trade-off for a larger international presence.

Palestinians got neither the police force nor the disarmament of Israeli settlers they had sought, let alone a relocation of settlers outside Palestinian population centers.

But PLO officials appeared pleased with the accord’s preamble, under which both sides acknowledged the “heightened needs of the Palestinians for security throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip” in the wake of “the horrendous massacre in Hebron.”

The statement also acknowledged the U.N. resolution condemning the attack as the basis for the new security arrangements, one of Israel’s first clear steps to publicly implement a U.N. resolution in the occupied territories.

Perhaps even more important than the security steps is the section of the agreement dealing with talks for self-rule in Gaza and Jericho, under which Israel agreed to shorten its withdrawal schedule to try to meet the original April 13 target date for completing troop redeployment in both areas.

Shahak said Israeli officials “will do everything in our ability to move forward in the negotiations, as fast as possible, and reach the signing of an agreement on Gaza and Jericho.” He could not, however, provide a timetable.

Israel Radio has reported that 70% of the army’s equipment in Gaza has already been withdrawn into Jewish settlements or within Israel’s borders. It quoted senior military sources as saying a full withdrawal could be completed within 72 hours of a final implementation agreement.

There were other signs that Israel is preparing for withdrawal. Bulldozers were dispatched to Jericho, where military sources said work was to begin on new border posts to be run by Palestinians on the new autonomous frontier.

Negotiators have broken into five committees to discuss each area under which Palestinians will assume autonomy in Gaza and Jericho. All five committees will meet Sunday through Thursday every week in Cairo until an accord is reached.

In an important concession, Israel agreed to consider expanding the scope of autonomy talks beyond the five initial fields of self-rule.

Sources said this could mean responsibilities beyond such duties as police, customs and courts, or even expanding initial Palestinian self-rule to regions outside Gaza and Jericho. “The word ‘scope’ can mean either content or geography,” a source said.

Murphy reported from Cairo and Fineman from Jerusalem.

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