ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 16, 1997 TAG: 9701160074
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: JERUSALEM
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
After a stormy, 12-hour session, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing, religious Cabinet voted early this morning to approve an accord, sealed with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat, on Israel's redeployment of its forces in Hebron.
The deal to pull back Israeli troops from about 80 percent of the occupied city and continue withdrawing from West Bank lands met with fierce opposition from hard-liners in Netanyahu's coalition who accused him of betraying his political base in the Likud ``nationalist camp'' and forsaking the Jewish homeland.
Zeev ``Benny'' Begin, the science and technology minister and most adamant of the critics, quit his post in protest after the 11-7 vote in favor of the Hebron accord.
``The prime minister gave his consent to abandon parts of the Jewish homeland, and in return hasn't received one significant concession from Arafat,'' Begin said on Israel radio earlier Wednesday.
While Labor leaders and peace activists lauded Netanyahu's long-awaited pact with Arafat, representatives of the 450 Jewish settlers who live among more than 100,000 Palestinians in Hebron asserted that Netanyahu was putting their lives in danger.
In the face of the heated opposition, Israel put extra troops in Hebron to safeguard against attacks such as the shooting spree by an off-duty Israeli soldier earlier this month. Officials fear extremists on both sides may resort to violence to try to derail the redeployment.
Meantime, after only a three-hour debate, Arafat's Cabinet easily passed the Hebron agreement, hammered out with Netanyahu in three months of fitful negotiations.
For Netanyahu, the long, bitter Cabinet session might have been expected. He had never thoroughly discussed a Hebron pullback with his assembled Cabinet. On this day, though, he let all of his ministers speak their minds in the oft-acrimonious session that ran from noon to after midnight before a vote was taken.
The opposition was led by Begin, son of the late Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who returned the Sinai to Egypt after signing the Camp David accords in 1978. At one point, Netanyahu reportedly grew furious when Begin pulled out documents allegedly obtained from the Foreign Ministry and claimed the prime minister had made a secret commitment not to build in the occupied territories before three further redeployments are completed in 1998.
Despite this and other political clashes, opponents failed to block the Hebron accord that mirrors the 1995 interim agreements that the previous Labor government had signed with the Palestinians.
Cabinet Secretary Danny Naveh emerged from the meeting about 12:30 a.m. to announce that the government had approved the accord by the narrow vote. He read a five-point statement that said the government would act to preserve the ``existence and security'' of the Jewish community in Hebron and that Israel's compliance with the new agreement depended on Palestinian ``reciprocity.''
It said the government soon would open discussions on its principles for final negotiations with the Palestinians and hoped to complete its position by next year. Naveh also announced Begin's resignation, which is not expected to have a big political impact, at least in the short term. In the long run, Begin could join forces with others in the far-right.
The Hebron deal is to go to a vote of the full Knesset today, where it is expected to be ratified by a broad majority that includes the Labor party. The accord then must be signed by Netanyahu and Arafat - either separately or at a formal ceremony - and redeployment then can begin.
On Wednesday, Israel distributed copies of the Hebron accord and of the U.S. ``note for the record'' summarizing both sides' commitments to fulfilling further obligations under the framework peace accords.
The new Hebron agreement is much like the old one with added security measures for settlers and Israeli soldiers who will remain in control of the Jewish enclaves and Cave of the Patriarchs, a holy site to Muslims and Jews.
The American note calls for Israel to carry out the first of three troop withdrawals from rural areas of the West Bank beginning the first week of March.
Israel promises to release Palestinian prisoners and to immediately resume negotiations over unresolved issues such as travel routes between the Gaza Strip and West Bank and the opening of an airport and port in Gaza. The Palestinians, in turn, promise to strengthen security cooperation, prevent incitement and hostile propaganda and to apprehend and punish terrorists.
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