Israel, Palestinians Discuss Expanding PLO’s Authority : Autonomy: Government praises Arab progress toward self-rule, lack of political violence.

Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization on Tuesday began what are expected to be complex, difficult negotiations on broadening the powers of the new Palestinian Authority and extending self-government throughout the West Bank.

Yossi Sarid, Israel’s environment minister, praised the start made by the authority in the Gaza Strip and Jericho district in the West Bank and said Israel is eager to expand the area governed by the Palestinians and thus maintain the momentum for peace.

The lack of political violence since autonomy began six weeks ago has encouraged Israel to accelerate the turnover of authority to the Palestinians, Sarid said.

“The better the situation is on the ground--and it has surprised us in a positive way--I’m sure it will encourage the government to move up the negotiations,” he said.

In Jericho, Israeli Tourism Minister Uzi Baram said he expects Palestinians will soon take charge of tourism in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, which draws about 1 million visitors a year.

Returning Sarid’s warm embrace at the Israeli administrative headquarters here, PLO negotiator Nabil Shaath said, “We have been friends for a long time and the objective of this meeting is political--to exchange our ideas and the ideas of our leaders, to improve relations and to move forward in the peace process.”

Shaath, now the senior minister here in the Palestinian Authority, said that, initially, the talks will focus on problems in implementing the self-government agreement signed last month, particularly the fate of the 4,000 to 6,000 Palestinians still held by Israel. “The prisoners have become the most important problem in the psyche of the Palestinian people, and I think it’s justified that we should really take a step toward solution,” Shaath said.

The issue has prompted hunger strikes by prisoners, and PLO critics have accused the organization of not working to free opponents of the peace talks.

Israel said it has freed 4,200 prisoners in the past two months but that hundreds stayed in prison or detention camps rather than renounce violence and accept the peace agreement. The PLO puts the number freed at 3,500. In all, 5,000 prisoners were supposed to be released by mid-June.

The main issues of the talks, however, will be the Palestinian Authority’s assumption of responsibility for education, health care, welfare, tourism and direct taxation across the whole West Bank and elections throughout the Palestinian territories.

These issues, difficult in themselves, require agreement on even tougher questions, including where the West Bank ends and Jerusalem begins, when the Palestinian police will start their deployment outside Jericho into the West Bank and when Israeli forces will withdraw from Palestinian towns and villages there.

While committed to transferring broad operating powers to the Palestinian Authority prior to elections, Israel is expected to encourage early balloting, now tentatively set for mid-October. That is because, once the elections are scheduled, there already is an agreed timetable for Israel’s pulling back its forces and extending Palestinian autonomy.

But the PLO is still weighing the politics of seeking more interim powers or proceeding directly to the Palestinians’ first national elections, accepting the uncertainty that such a process would bring.

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat will probably give the negotiators basic instructions when they meet in Paris on July 6.

Speaking to reporters in Jerusalem, Rabin said he would consider the Paris talks a success if he and Arafat make progress on widening the scope of Palestinian self-rule--”in principle, to agree about the timetable and guidelines.”

Arafat and Rabin will also likely set the date for Arafat’s arrival in Jericho and Gaza.

“The question is timing,” Shaath said of Arafat’s delayed arrival. “I hope we solve all the problems that have made it difficult for him to come.”

Arafat had been expected to arrive this month. He has given various reasons for his delayed arrival, including the failure of foreign donors to provide promised assistance. The Palestinians were promised an immediate $42 million of $600 million pledged by international donors to underwrite the first year of self-rule. But Shaath said they have not received it. Palestinian representatives are in Washington this week seeking a further $40 million.

In Jerusalem, an Arab stabbed and seriously wounded a Jew on Tuesday, the 27th anniversary of Israel’s annexation of the Arab eastern part of the city. The injured man was repairing his car in the Jewish neighborhood of Neve Yaacov on the east side. The attacker fled toward a nearby Arab village, police said.

In the West Bank town of Tulkarm, a Palestinian gunman broke into a home of an Arab suspected of collaborating with the Israeli occupation and opened fire, killing one man and wounding three others.