Plo Demands Border Reopening Plo Chief Yasser Arafat Also Protests Delays In Israel’s Withdrawal From West Bank Cities

The PLO, in a sign of brewing animosity between Israelis and Palestinians over the recent autonomy agreement, said Thursday that Israel’s border closure with the West Bank and Gaza Strip violates the pact and should be lifted immediately.

PLO chief Yasser Arafat wrote a letter to Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin to protest the closure, as well as delays in Israel’s withdrawal from West Bank cities and construction of homes for Jewish settlers, a spokesman said. The letter arrived Thursday.

Citing security threats from Muslim militants, Israel sealed Gaza on Sept. 20 and the West Bank on Sept. 27, barring the 2 million Palestinians living there from entering Israel and cutting off many laborers from their jobs. The closures are to be lifted Tuesday.

“This is a violation of the accord,” Marwan Kanafani said Thursday. “Rabin has signed an agreement with the Palestinian Authority … he should respect it. … The Palestinians did not sign an agreement so they would live behind bars.”

Kanafani said Arafat has asked the United States and Egypt to intervene in the dispute.

The remarks are the latest accusations between Israel and the PLO over the accord. Under the pact, Israeli troops will leave Palestinian towns and villages over the next six months and the West Bank’s 1 million Palestinians will be granted self-rule.

Israel withdrew from four West Bank villages on Tuesday and Wednesday, but Palestinian officials said the pullout was cosmetic. They accused Israel of breaking a promise to begin withdrawing from Palestinian towns 10 days after the agreement was signed in Washington on Sept. 28.

Kanafani warned that further delays would “torpedo the agreement” and strengthen the hand of extremists who want to derail the peace process.