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

DATE: SATURDAY, November 27, 1993                   TAG: 9311270164
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: NICOLAS B. TATRO ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: JERUSALEM                                LENGTH: Medium

PEACE HOPES FADING ARABS AWAIT ISRAELI PULLOUT

Amid riots and bloodshed, there are signs Israelis and Palestinians are growing disillusioned with a peace process that has not lived up to many of their expectations.

Israeli soldiers ambush underground fighters and arrest Palestinian activists, while Jewish settlers go on anti-Arab rampages. Palestinian militants stab soldiers, attack Jewish settlers with axes and issue leaflets threatening more violence.

Israeli troops killed a senior Palestinian fighter Friday, a day after riots exploded in the Gaza Strip to protest the death of Imad Aqal, another well-known guerrilla fighter for the Muslim fundamentalist Hamas group. Thirty-four Palestinians were wounded by gunfire.

Almost every day there is bloodshed, and the violence is taking its toll on hope for peace that prevailed after the Sept. 13 signing of the Israel-PLO accord.

Since the pact, 31 Palestinians and 10 Israelis have been killed.

Violence is likely to continue until Israeli soldiers start to pull out and Palestinians take the reins. In the meantime, the tit-for-tat warfare is likely to continue as extremists try to upend the peace process.

The question is how long Palestinians and Israelis are willing to restrain themselves from conflict.

Palestinians complain Israel released only a few hundred of the 10,500 prisoners in Israeli jails and then stopped. Hundreds of deportees have not been allowed to return home. The army continues to confront Palestinian youths in the streets. Jobs are scarce, and travel restrictions tight.

Haidar Abdel-Shafi, a Gaza doctor who led the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks in Washington, said there was a "mood of frustration and distrust" in Gaza.

"It will be very difficult to control a population that is losing its confidence in the peace process and in the promises that have been made when the declaration was proclaimed," Abdel-Shafi said.

Israelis also feel cheated. Many expected a new climate of reconciliation and an end to the bloodshed that has haunted Israel since the Palestinian uprising began in 1987.

Sela Avraham Sela, a political science professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, predicted the violence would stop once changes begin. "I think from our side, it depends on when the government expresses very precisely what it will do and gives people some schedules for when specific things will happen," he said.

by CNB