Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 24, 1993 TAG: 9309240067
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: JERUSALEM LENGTH: Medium
Rabin said the 61-50 vote allowed the government to implement the agreement on Palestinian self-rule in the occupied lands and continue attempts to reach peace with Israel's Arab neighbors.
The margin was less substantial than Rabin had hoped, but it put a convincing end to calls for early elections or a national referendum that would have slowed down the peace momentum.
It also diminished fears that Israel would be torn by violence and political anarchy after recognizing the PLO, its bitter enemy.
"Now we shall build a new Middle East," Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said after the vote.
Still, hard-line opponents to the accord said the government's mandate was slim, and they would try to force changes in the accord.
PLO spokesman Yasser Abed-Rabbo praised the result, telling Israeli army radio from Tunis it was a "positive step" and that support for the treaty was larger in the street than in parliament.
Rabin had staked the credibility of the peace initiative as well as the future of his government on winning the vote, saying it would constitute a formal vote of confidence.
Eight legislators, including three from the hard-line Likud bloc, abstained and one was absent in the 120-seat Knesset, or parliament. The result clearly embarrassed Likud, which failed to enforce party discipline.
One of the three Likud members who abstained, Meir Shitreet, said his party's opposition to a peace deal backed by the majority of Israelis was "political suicide."
Oded Ben-Ami, Rabin's spokesman, told The Associated Press, "There is no need for new elections. The parliament very clearly approved the agreement. The margin is very clear."
Peres, speaking on Israel television, said Israel and the PLO hoped to formalize their current unofficial contacts within two to three weeks, with the PLO naming several delegates for face-to-face talks.
As part of the accord, Israel will free 11,000 Palestinian detainees, said Palestinian leader Hanan Ashrawi.
Confirming a report in the Jerusalem Report magazine, Ashrawi said the release could come immediately. Prison services spokesman Dubi Ben-Ami denied the plan but acknowledged that the detainees' fate was still unclear.
Another 2,000 maximum security detainees will be moved from the occupied territories to Israel, the magazine said.
Ashrawi also said Jan. 1 "could be a target date" for PLO chief Yasser Arafat's arrival in the areas of future autonomy.
Rabin's opponents, who say the agreement eventually would lead to a Palestinian state and endanger Israel's existence, meanwhile prepared for battle.
Gonen Segev of the right-wing Tsomet Party said the hard-liners will start "an information campaign" to force changes in the agreement.
"Our aim now is to guarantee no Palestinian state and guarantee that the settlements in Judea and Samaria will not be removed," Segev said, using the Biblical names for the West Bank.
The right-wingers also charged that the backing of only 61 of 120 legislators showed that the government had no mandate from the people.
by CNB