Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 14, 1993 TAG: 9309140176
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BARRY SCHWEID ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
But no one could gloss over the crises sure to come, or the pain of the decades past.
"Enough of blood and tears. Enough," the gravelly voiced Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli prime minister, said with emotion. "We wish to open a new chapter in the sad book of our lives together, a chapter of mutual recognition, of good neighborliness, of mutual respect, of understanding."
PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat said the agreement should mark "the end of a chapter of pain and suffering which has lasted throughout this century."
The two, mortal enemies for a generation, watched from several feet apart as aides signed historic agreements that will bring Palestinian rule to the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Then, drawn toward Rabin by President Clinton, a grinning Arafat extended his hand.
After a second's hesitation, the prime minister reached out for a businesslike handshake. Rabin, who as an Israeli general captured the West Bank and Gaza, was stony faced.
Rabin said, "This signing of the Israeli-Palestinian declaration of principles here today, it's not so easy, neither for myself as a soldier in Israel's war, nor for the people of Israel, nor for the Jewish people in the Diaspora who are watching us now with great hope mixed with apprehension."
Mahmoud Abbas of the PLO Executive Committee, who signed the agreement, said, "We know quite well that this is merely the beginning of a journey that is surrounded by numerous dangers and difficulties."
Indeed, much is at stake.
Israel is betting that turning over administrative control of Gaza, Jericho and, before long, much of the West Bank will cool the Palestinian ardor for an independent nation and especially for control of Jerusalem.
Arafat and those in the PLO who support this limited accord are placing an exactly opposite bet: that the experience of peaceful coexistence will induce Israel - with prodding from the United States and most of the world - to agree in two to three years to a state with its capital in Jerusalem.
Of that vision, Rabin said gruffly: "He can forget about it." Of course Rabin knows that isn't going to happen. "The Palestinian state is within our grasp," Arafat said recently. "Soon the Palestinian flag will fly on the walls, the minarets and the cathedrals of Jerusalem."
Nonetheless, his critics in the Arab world and within the PLO believe Arafat has gambled and already lost by recognizing Israel and disavowing his campaign of anti-Israeli violence.
Jeane Kirkpatrick, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said, "It surely is a gamble for Israel and it's a fairly major gamble," she said. "It is not comparable to the Camp David accords [with Egypt in 1978] except it's signed with a former enemy."
She said Israel stood to gain peace from Egypt. "But the PLO today is very weak, it is weaker than it has ever been, above all because of the rising power of the fundamentalists, so there isn't as much to gain."
With a foothold on the West Bank, and with the United States embracing the PLO with exceptional speed and warmth, Arafat has achieved momentum.
The Clinton administration will try to shape a safe future, organizing assistance to the fledgling Palestinian authority from the European Community, Japan, Scandinavia, and Saudi Arabia and other rich Persian Gulf countries.
This has the enthusiastic support of the Rabin government, which hopes a stable Palestinian entity is more likely to be a peaceful one.
Negotiators will soon focus on Israel's conflict with Syria. Syria wants Israel to give up the Golan Heights, a strategic enclave at the border captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.
The Rabin government has advised Syria it would consider at least a partial withdrawal. Syria is demanding a complete pullback and the talks are stalemated.
An implacable impasse? Few predicted Monday's agreement between the PLO and Israel, even a month ago.
by CNB