Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, September 25, 1995 TAG: 9509250061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MARJORIE MILLER LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: JERUSALEM LENGTH: Medium
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin has said the goal of his peace negotiations with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is to separate the archenemies, end Israeli rule over Palestinians and allow for peaceful coexistence.
The accord is the first major step back from the notion of Eretz Israel, Greater Israel, that the country has held for 27 years.
But it is a complicated package of compromises that sets the stage for continued contact between Israelis and Palestinians - despite Rabin's goal of separation - and for further conflict.
The concessions by Arafat and Rabin are likely to inflame the passions of extremists on both sides, a point driven home by the immediately hostile reactions to agreement from the Israeli right-wing and leftist Palestinians.
Even Rabin acknowledged the difficulties of implementing it.
``I don't believe that, by signing diplomatic documents, you can get rid of the backlog of hatred, suspicion and bloodshed between the Arab countries - the Palestinians especially - and us,'' he told Israeli media.
``But the diplomatic papers are the door for a new era in which, hopefully by coexistence, we will be able within 10 to 30 years to reduce the effects of the long, bitter conflict between us,'' he said.
The accord does not call for removing any of the 120,000 Jewish settlers in about 100 West Bank enclaves as the Palestinians had demanded, and it leaves Israeli soldiers in control of security in about 70 percent of the territory, including a tangle of new roads connecting the settlements with the rest of Israel.
In fact, the agreement leaves the West Bank map looking a lot like Swiss cheese, divided into vast areas controlled by Israeli soldiers, cities controlled by Palestinian police, and villages and connecting roads in which both forces may operate.
``The question of what area is whose responsibility is very unwieldy and complicated to implement,'' said Hanan Ashrawi, a former member of the Palestinian negotiating team. ``Where do they overlap, where do they interface ... You will need to carry a map to understand whose jurisdiction you are under if you make a move.''
While six of the major West Bank cities will be entirely under Palestinian control, the exception is Hebron, where about 400 Jewish settlers live in the heart of the city and its 120,000 Palestinians.
Hebron was one of the toughest issues during the negotiations and is likely to be the most volatile in the coming months. Israel agreed to give up overall control of the city, but kept the right to protect Jewish residents.
This compromise has angered the settlers, many of whom are armed and warn they will shoot at armed Palestinian police. It also could ignite the barely contained fury of Hebron's Palestinians, who wanted the Jews disarmed and removed.
Another potential flash point there is the downtown Cave of the Patriarchs, which will remain under Israeli army control. The site, believed to be the burial place of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, is worshipped by Muslims and Jews.
Beyond the Palestinian cities, Israeli soldiers will withdraw from about 450 towns, but maintain the right to enter them in pursuit of terrorists, and to set up checkpoints on roads. The Israelis also will control who enters and leaves Palestinian territory from any direction.
``People will test the agreement and see how it affects their daily life, whether they have freedom of movement and economic activity,'' said Ashrawi. ``They don't like to see their land fragmented and Israelis putting Palestinians on probation all the time.''
If Palestinians talk of frustration, Israelis talk of fear and uncertainty at the prospect of Palestinian-controlled cities on their doorstep. Bethlehem is a stone's throw from Jerusalem's Jewish suburbs.
If Palestinian officials do not cooperate with Israelis on security, ``there is going to be a lot of pressure from the Israeli public and a terrible backlash,'' warned Gerald Steinberg, a political scientist at the BESA Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University.
Yet, despite all the concerns about a violent reaction against the accord from both sides in the coming months, Rabin asserted it would become irreversible, and that abandoning the old idea of Eretz Israel will bring peace with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world.
``As I see it, we have passed the point of no return,'' Rabin said. ``It means we are on the road to peace.''
by CNB