Israel and PLO Ready to Sign Final Agreement Next Wednesday

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators announced this week that next Wednesday is the target date for the singing of a final agreement for the implementation of Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Jericho.

The announcement was made in Cairo on Thursday following a three-hour meeting between U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat and Egyptian President Mubarak.

“For us, this is the end of a long voyage and the beginning of a new chapter in the relations between the Palestinian people and ourselves, and another step towards peace in the Middle East,” Peres said after the meeting.

Concluding a negotiating process that has dragged on for months longer than originally planned, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Arafat are expected to sign the final agreement in Cairo.

The signing will herald the start of the implementation of the Palestinian self-rule accord, whose broad principles were worked out during a series of secret meetings in Oslo last summer.

Rabin and Arafat attended the signing of the declaration of principles last fall in Washington, where they exchanged a historic handshake that promised an end to decades of bloodshed.

Rabin and Arafat were scheduled to meet next Tuesday on the eve of the signing ceremony to settle two outstanding issues: the size of the autonomous Jericho district and the establishment of a Palestinian police presence on the Allenby Bridge that connects the West Bank and Jordan.

Progress was also reported at the Israeli-PLO economic talks being held in Paris.

According to a spokesman for Finance Minister Avraham Shohat, the head of the Israeli delegation in Paris, the two sides had overcome all the obstacles facing them and should be able to conclude the negotiations for establishing economic relations between Israel and the Palestinians by the end of the week.

According to Israel Radio, Christopher lent the full weight of his prestige and influence during Thursday’s meetings in Cairo to secure the signing while he was still present in the region. Christopher arrived in the Middle East this week for a new round of shuttle diplomacy.

Marathon talks between Israel and the PLO, punctuated by meetings involving Christopher, Peres, Arafat and Mubarak, started in Cairo on Thursday, giving a final push to bring the negotiations to completion.

Thursday’s lengthy meeting with Christopher tidied up most of the outstanding issues, Peres told Israel Radio, adding that he would now be returning to Israel earlier than planned.

“We shall try to finish off whatever remains to be finished tonight, and then we can begin the Syrian chapter tomorrow, when Christopher comes to Israel,” Peres said Thursday, referring to the Israeli-Syrian negotiations, which have been stalled for months.

Reacting to the news that a final agreement would soon be signed, Likud spokesman Yehoshua Matza, who chairs the Knesset’s Interior Affairs Committee and has just been elected party secretary, was clearly critical of the development.

“I demand that the government present the Knesset with the full text of the agreement, including any secret clauses, before it is signed. If is refuses, then a future government may not feel bound by this agreement” he said.

Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu has stated in the past that any future Likud government may refuse to recognize the Israeli-PLO agreement. And earlier this week, a group of influential Palestinians circulated a statement that if certain of their demands are not met, they, too, will refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the agreement.