Plo Urged To Accept Less Than Full Pullout By Israel

Secretary of State Warren Christopher urged the Palestinians on Sunday to consider accepting an Israeli pullout from four West Bank cities, short of the withdrawal envisioned in the Israel-PLO peace accord.

Israel is proposing an initial troop withdrawal from Jenin, Tulkarm, Nablus and Qalqilya and surrounding refugee camps, a Palestinian official close to PLO leader Yasser Arafat told The Associated Press. Nearby villages and major cities such as Ramallah, Bethlehem and Hebron would not be included.

The Palestinians demand awithdrawal from all West Bank cities.

In a one-hour meeting with Arafat in Jericho, Christopher tried to persuade the Palestinian leader to agree to elections after such a partial pullout, said the official, who declined to be identified by name.

The official said Christopher suggested the Palestinians would get more money from donor countries if the agreement was accepted.

But Palestinian minister Faisal Husseini called partial withdrawal unacceptable.

“We have said very clearly that there will be no elections before the full redeployment of Israeli troops from all the West Bank, and that is final,” Husseini said Sunday.

The withdrawal and elections had been set to take place by last summer, but negotiations have been stalled by Israeli security concerns in the wake of a series of deadly bombings by Islamic militants.

Furthermore, the September 1993 Israel-PLO accord doesn’t specify the extent of withdrawal. It calls only for Israeli troops to be “redeployed outside populated areas” with unspecified “further redeployments” done gradually.

The two sides have set a target date of July 1 for an agreement. Christopher said the United States would help meet that goal.

“We hope that the first of July will be respected by all parties,” Arafat said, “including redeployment and handing over the empowerments, and after that the elections.”

Palestinian officials, however, said Arafat told his Cabinet Saturday that he doubted negotiations would be wrapped up by July 1.

Arafat’s information minister, Yasser Abd Rabbo, said the PLO would seek international arbitration if the deadline was not met, but that the idea was not brought up in the meeting with Christopher.

Israeli Police Minister Moshe Shahal confirmed Sunday that Israel was talking about withdrawing from four cities but would like to withdraw from Jenin first to determine what problems might surface.