U.S. and Jewish officials are giving a hearty thumbs up to the Palestine National Council’s decision this week to amend the portions of its charter calling for the destruction of Israel.
Their enthusiasm echoed that of Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who hailed the vote, saying that “maybe ideologically it is the most important change in the last 100 years.”
During a closed-door session in Gaza on Wednesday night — as Israel concluded its 48th Independence Day celebrations — the PNC brought to an end worldwide uncertainty about the outcome of the critical vote.
Knowing that the future of the peace process was at stake, Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat had strongly urged the so-called Palestinian parliament in exile to fulfill the obligation to change the covenant, as called for under the peace accords with Israel.
In the end, council members, including some of the most extreme terrorists, whom Israel had allowed into Gaza to take part in the vote, overwhelming supported Arafat’s appeal.
The vote was 504 in favor, 54 against and 14 abstentions.
The tally, taken during a closed-door session in the Gaza Strip, exceeded the two-thirds majority of the 669 PNC members needed to change the 1964 covenant.
Arafat reportedly appointed 98 people to the PNC on Tuesday, prompting accusations from hardline opponents that he was stacking the vote in his favor.
In Washington, some Jewish officials learned of the news directly from President Clinton.
“They did it,” Clinton told American Jewish leaders as he finished signing antiterrorism legislation into law at the White House on Wednesday afternoon.
Flashing the thumbs-up sign to a small group of Jewish organizational leaders attending the signing ceremony, Clinton shared a cable on the decision that had just been handed to him by his national security adviser, Anthony Lake.
Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said this “incredible achievement is another milestone in the peace process.”
Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, responded, “Good news. We waited three years to have Arafat fulfill his promise to Rabin and he did.”
Foxman said that now was the time for the Palestinians to translate their acceptance of Israel from “words into deeds” and stop terrorism.
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who has closely monitored the Palestine Liberation Organization’s actions since the signing of its accords with Israel, said, “I am delighted to see that this has been done.”
A co-chairman of the Peace Accord Monitoring Group in Congress as well as an original sponsor of legislation that linked Palestine Liberation Organization compliance to receiving U.S. assistance, Specter called the PNC action a “first step” and said Congress would continue to watch the PLO closely on other issues, such as its war against terrorism.
Secretary of State Warren Christopher, arriving back in Israel amid his shuttle diplomacy in the region, called the vote “a historic milestone on the road to reconciliation and peace between the people of Israel and the Palestinians.”
“They did what they said they would do,” Christopher told reporters as he was trying to conclude a cease-fire and a longer-term settlement in Lebanon.
“I think this will give a lot of forward movement” to the peace process, he said.
The PNC vote came amid sharp Palestinian criticisms of Israel for its current military actions in Lebanon, as well longstanding protests against Israel’s prolonged closure of the West Bank and Gaza, imposed after the first of four Hamas suicide bombings against Israel in late February and early March.
Despite the criticisms of Israeli actions, Arafat this week had prodded the PNC to amend the charter, warning them that failure to do so could jeopardize the entire peace process.
“Make up your minds,” Arafat said to recalcitrant PNC members Tuesday. “Are we going to have a Palestinian dream or not? Are we going to have a Palestinian state or not?”
The vote came in the wake of repeated Israeli warnings that failure to amend the covenant would bring the peace process to a halt.
Even those council members who opposed amending the charter were quoted as saying that Arafat’s strong lobby within the council had predetermined the results.
The council’s vote was also crucial for Prime Minister Shimon Peres, who faces next month’s national elections.
A vote against amending the charter would have undermined Peres’ position, providing ammunition to his right-wing opponents that the Palestinian peace track was a failure.
During its closed-door session, the PNC reportedly voted on a written text that said: “The Palestine National Council decides to amend the Palestinian National Charter by canceling clauses which contradict the letters exchanged between the PLO and the Israeli government.”
Arafat and slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin had exchanged letters of mutual recognition as part of the 1993 peace accord.
In its decision, the PNC did not adopt a new covenant, but appointed a legal committee to draw one up.
The draft of a new covenant is not expected to be brought before the PNC before the May 29 Israeli elections, Israel Radio reported.
The draft is expected to be based upon a PNC resolution made in 1988 in Algiers, declaring an independent Palestinian state.
In addition to amending the charter, Israel has demanded that the Palestinian Authority crack down on the militant Islamic Jihad and Hamas fundamentalist groups, which have carried out the attacks against Israel.
At the same time, the council vote came amid recent reports that implementation of the interim-phase accord, on hold since the suicide bombings, would resume, and that preparations were under way for the Israeli troop redeployment from parts of Hebron.
Hebron is the seventh and final Palestinian population center that is to be handed over to Palestinian self-rule under the interim-phase accord.
Under the agreement, Israeli troops will pull out of Arab neighborhoods, but remain stationed in other sites in the city and around the Jewish enclave in the center of the town, home to some 450 Jewish settlers.
(JTA correspondent Naomi Segal in Jerusalem contributed to this report.)
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