ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 20, 1997 TAG: 9701200154
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HEBRON, WEST BANK
SOURCE: Associated Press
Yasser Arafat returned to Hebron for the first time in more than 30 years Sunday and joined 60,000 Palestinians in celebrating the handover of the last West Bank city from Israeli control.
In a conciliatory gesture toward Jewish settlers, he said the accord - which gives Palestinians control of 80 percent of the city and Israel 20 percent - was a new step toward peace.
``With this Hebron deal, we have signed peace with all the Israeli people. This is something new,'' he said from the balcony of Hebron's new Palestinian police station, formerly the Israeli military headquarters.
The agreement on Hebron is the first fruit of months of bitter wrangling between Arafat and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, long a critic of the peace process begun by his dovish predecessors.
Arafat, whose government took control of four-fifths of Hebron on Friday, had not been in the city since 1965, when he organized guerrilla cells to fight Israel.
Arafat's conciliatory words contrasted sharply with a speech by the Palestinian security chief Saturday. Jibril Rajoub accused the 500 settlers who live in the city of 130,000 Palestinians of fomenting ``hate and violence and terror.''
Israel condemned Rajoub's speech as inciting violence.
Netanyahu welcomed Arafat's words, telling CNN he was ``struck by the fact that his tone is different.''
``I certainly would like to have the Palestinians and Israelis strike up a friendship. I think the test is Hebron,'' Netanyahu said.
Settler spokesman David Wilder, however, said that if Arafat were serious about conciliation, he would fire Rajoub.
He called it ``despicable'' that Netanyahu had given the PLO leader control of the biblical city and said Arafat's visit marked ``a day of national mourning for the Hebron settlers.''
Arafat flew into Hebron on Sunday afternoon, waving to the crowd from the window of his helicopter. Wearing his black-and-white headscarf and green khaki uniform, he sat atop the open sunroof of the car, reaching into the crowd to shake hands and throw kisses en route to the police station.
In an early snag in the peace process, the Israeli army delayed supplying Palestinian police with submachine guns because officers had been seen with stolen Israeli guns, Israel army radio reported Sunday. The army and Palestinian officials did not comment on the report.
Despite Sunday's celebrations, there was an undercurrent of anger over dividing the city between Palestinian and Israeli rule.
Israel set up checkpoints along the line around the 20 percent of Hebron where settlers live among 15,000 Palestinians. Soldiers stopped Palestinian youths to check identity cards and carry out searches.
In the Palestinian-controlled part of the city, Palestinian police stopped cars with yellow Israeli license plates.
Ahmed Shahin, who lives in the Palestinian side but owns a shop in the Israeli zone, said redeployment has only made life more difficult.
``I will not go to see Arafat because I am not happy. First, because the settlers are staying in Hebron and second because Hebron is becoming two cities,'' he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Yasser Arafat's bodyguard holds the PLO leader's armby CNBSunday during a visit to Hebron, his first visit there in more than
30 years. color.