Although few details were released, this week’s negotiations on implementing Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and West Bank town of Jericho concluded with reports that progress had been achieved.
Nabil Sha’ath, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s chief negotiator, was quoted as saying that the delegates to the talks between Israel and the PLO, held in Cairo this week, addressed for the first time the geographical boundaries of Jericho that will be placed under Palestinian jurisdiction.
The question of the future boundaries of Jericho is one of the thorniest issues confronting the negotiators, with the Palestinians demanding substantially more territory than the Israelis are willing to cede.
Sha’ath reportedly also told Egyptian television that the talks had focused on the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, rather than merely on their redeployment.
Sha’ath added that there had been real progress on the issue of Israel’s security needs in the area.
The talks were suspended by the Palestinians in the Sinai border town of Taba last week when they rejected Israel’s proposed troop withdrawals from Gaza as falling far short of their expectations.
The Palestinians said that the self-rule agreement signed by Israel and the PLO in Washington on Sept. 13 calls for the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and not merely their redeployment to other locations within the region.
Israeli officials have said that the security of Jewish residents in the territories is a paramount consideration in the determination of their troops’ positions.
According to Israel Radio, the parties agreed to focus their current negotiations on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from certain portions of Gaza and Jericho while postponing the issue of the overall redeployment for a later date.
The talks were moved this week to a secret location in Cairo in response to complaints from both sides about media interference in the negotiations.
While the talks are scheduled to resume next week, their location has not been disclosed.
Maj. Gen. Amnon Shahak, the head of the Israeli delegation who is also Israel’s deputy chief of staff, briefed Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on the details of the latest round of talks before Rabin’s departure for the United States.
Rabin was scheduled to meet with President Clinton in Washington at the end of this week.
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