Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 5, 1994 TAG: 9405050162
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP LENGTH: Medium
The signing of the Palestinian self-rule agreement after months of tortuous negotiations left important issues unresolved, and the changeover was expected to be rocky. But the prospect of autonomy and an eventual Palestinian state produced remarkable displays of goodwill in areas torn by six years of violence.
Newly freed Palestinian prisoners posed for pictures and shook hands with Israeli soldiers, and some people released doves. Children in the West Bank town of Jericho showered an Israeli police car with flowers.
Israeli soldiers shouted ``shalom'' at passing Palestinian cars.
``This is the beginning of the changes we will see on the ground soon. It's the beginning of the translation of the historic agreement,'' said Col. Maher Fara, a spokesman for the Palestinian police force that will patrol the autonomous zones in the Gaza Strip and around Jericho.
Despite the formal signing ceremony in Cairo, Egypt, three main issues remained unresolved: the release of non-PLO Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, the size of the Jericho area, and Palestinian demands to have at least a symbolic police presence at border crossings.
Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat, bartering even as the ceremony unfolded, signed the 200-page document that emerged from nearly seven months of talks repeatedly interrupted by violence and temporary deadlocks. An outline of autonomy was signed Sept. 13 in Washington, but this document filled in the details.
The signing itself was disrupted when Arafat momentarily walked away in a last-minute dispute over a map. It produced an extraordinary scene as President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Secretary of State Warren Christopher and others negotiated with Arafat on stage as speeches continued.
Palestinians are just beginning to organize the administrative departments needed to assume control.
Brig. Gen. Ghazi Al-Jabali, leader of the advance group of 19 police commanders who arrived Wednesday from Egypt, toured military camps that Israel will turn over in Gaza City, Khan Yunis and Rafah.
``We are bringing love, optimism and hope to the people of Gaza and Jericho,'' al-Jabali said, but he indicated changes would take time.
He told reporters the initial force of 1,500 Palestinian police officers would arrive in a week with uniforms and arms and not Thursday as previously reported.
by CNB