At Least Partial Pact Seen on Palestinian Self-Rule

While security talks between Syria and Israel resumed Tuesday in Washington after a long hiatus, attention here focused on producing an agreement by Saturday on expanding Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank.

In a breakfast session with reporters, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres predicted that the target date he set months ago with Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat will be met.

“On most of the issues, we do have a solution,” Peres said. “. . . I do hope that we will reach a significant enough agreement so that July 1 will not be an empty date.”

As Peres spoke, Palestinians in the West Bank observed the second day of a general strike, demanding the immediate release of all 5,500 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. And Jewish settlers, who contend that any army redeployment will endanger their communities, seized land they say belongs to them near four settlements and put up fences.

Foreign Ministry sources said Israeli and Palestinian officials are considering traveling to Washington to sign at least a partial agreement sometime in the first half of July.

The accord--which was supposed to have been worked out a year ago--will grant Palestinians far less than the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from all West Bank towns and villages that Palestinian officials said they wanted when the talks began. The agreement is also unlikely to provide the Palestinians with a timetable for full redeployment, Israeli officials said.

But it is expected to include a blueprint for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from four Palestinian towns in the northern West Bank. It probably will also authorize the transfer of some civilian areas of authority from Israeli to Palestinian control and detail a framework for holding Palestinian elections by the end of the year.

Teams of negotiators were meeting in Cairo and Jerusalem on Tuesday to try to work out remaining differences. But a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat could be necessary to conclude an agreement.

Despite Peres’ insistence that at least a partial agreement is likely to be finalized by Saturday, a Foreign Ministry official pointed out that since Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath, any agreement is not likely to be signed before Sunday.