Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 4, 1994 TAG: 9405040029
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Washington Post
DATELINE: CAIRO, EGYPT LENGTH: Medium
"We have finished everything," Palestinian negotiator Nabil Shaath said as he emerged from meetings at the Egyptian presidential palace in which Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat had hammered out final agreement on details that had threatened to hold up the agreement's signing today.
It was clear from some officials' comments, however, that several disputes were not resolved but will be dealt with at a later date.
The cementing of the implementation accord was the culmination of seven months of discussions that began after Israel and the PLO signed an agreement on Palestinian self-rule at the White House on Sept. 13.
The pact is to be signed this morning in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Russian Foreign Minister Andrei Kozyrev, Japanese Foreign Minister Koji Kakizawa and their counterparts from other countries.
"I'm very happy. . . . For the first time our Palestinian people are going to have a chance to rule themselves," Shaath said. "It is not all that we wanted, but it is a beginning."
Accompanied by Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, Shaath said Arafat and Rabin had agreed on the size of the area around Jericho that is to come under Palestinian self-rule and on the issue of whether Palestinian policemen would have a presence at the borders of the new Palestinian-ruled zones.
Shaath declined to specify the details of the compromises.
Moussa said the agreement on the size of the Jericho enclave involved "a certain addition of some kilometers . . . [but] also continues to be under consideration."
An Israeli official, who asked not to be named, said the Israelis offered to increase the size of the Palestinian-controlled enclave to 25 square miles from their original offer of 22.5 square miles. Arafat had been demanding twice the initial offer.
The official also said Israel had refused to permit a Palestinian police presence at the Allenby Bridge border crossing between Jericho and Jordan, which the PLO had sought as a symbol of sovereignty.
As did Moussa, however, the official indicated that Israel's position on both those matters could be subject to "further consideration" as part of mutual "confidence-building measures over the next six months."
Apparently no progress was made on another contentious issue: conditions under which about 3,400 Palestinian prisoners who belong to the Islamic fundamentalist movement Hamas might be released. Israel already has agreed to release some 5,000 other Palestinian prisoners after the agreement on self-rule is signed Wednesday but had demanded that Hamas detainees make written pledges rejecting violence as a condition of their release.
"Prisoners rejecting the agreement will not be released," Israeli spokesman Uri Dromi said.
by CNB