The PLO-Israel accord

The long and strenuous talks between PLO chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, in the Egyptian city of Taba, finally paid off on Sunday when the two sides clinched an historic deal.

The agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, to extend PLO autonomy over the West Bank, was obviously an historic initiative, undertaken by the Jewish state and the PLO in their bids to help create peace in the Middle East.

We are of the opinion that the accord is another victory for the PLO because Palestinians in the West Bank, for the first time in their history, are truly masters of their own homeland and will no longer be oppressed by Israeli troops.

The agreement also paves the way for the PLO to set up its autonomy council, which is, in fact, a parliament without the title. This, as well as the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank, after occupying the territory for 28 years, is scheduled for next year.

The significance of the autonomy council, whose 82 members will be elected by Palestinians residing in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, will doubtlessly strengthen Arafat's position and the Palestinians' authority in the international arena, since the PLO began its self-rule in Gaza and Jericho in May 1994.

The merits and good points that Israel obtains, from the initial accord on Sunday, are that it is allowed to retain Jerusalem and parts of the West Bank, where some 130,000 Jewish settlers have made their homes.

All this is just another great step towards the establishment of an independent state for the Palestinians, who have long suffered and been deprived of their rights in setting up their own country.

Many problems have yet to be solved and dangers still loom in the region. To implement the 450-page agreement is by no means an easy task for both the PLO and the Jewish state. The two peoples are confronted with the grim fact that hard-liners on both sides still pose a threat to the historic and good initiatives taken thus far by the PLO and the Israeli government.

For example, as widely reported by news agencies, while praises for the Israeli-PLO deal have been given by a number of world leaders, including U.S. President Bill Clinton, who brokered and witnessed the signing of the Declaration of Principles for Palestinian Autonomy in September 1993, criticisms and even threats have also been aired, regarding the accord.

A faction of Palestinian hard-liners in Damascus condemned the agreement, saying that the deal "contains many articles that will lead to an explosion in the area". Former Israeli defense minister Ariel Sharon, who aspires to become his country's next prime minister, after elections due in November next year, vowed that, if elected, his government would overturn the accord.

It is our sincere hope that radicals from both sides, be the Zionist diehards, or Hamas militants, refrain from taking bloody actions that may disrupt the ongoing fruitful peace process in the Middle East.

In the present era, where peace-loving countries are working hard to build their economies and raise the welfare of their people, armed conflicts and wanton acts of disrupting peace will surely be condemned and become the enemy of people worldwide.