ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, October 12, 1993                   TAG: 9310120070
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: TUNIS, TUNISIA                                LENGTH: Short

ARAFAT WINS ENDORSEMENT OF PEACE PACT

Yasser Arafat won endorsement for his peace accord with Israel from a main PLO policy-making body Monday, clearing another hurdle in his struggle to get the pact widely accepted by Palestinians.

Sixty-three members of the 107-member Palestine Central Council approved the accord, eight voted against it and nine abstained. Other members were absent. Two members later resigned to protest the vote. The outcome had been widely expected.

Earlier, the Palestine Liberation Organization chairman's efforts to win backing for the accord were greatly helped when the agreement's most prominent opponent in Arafat's Fatah faction, Farouk Kadoumi, head of the PLO's political department, switched to Arafat's side.

Meanwhile in Lebanon, two rival Muslim guerrilla groups jointly attacked Israeli-backed forces Monday to protest the Israeli-PLO accord. Israeli gunners later pounded southern Lebanon. There were no reported casualties.

- Associated Press 


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