GAZA: ARAFAT AND RABIN MEET FOR PEACE TALKS

Описание: (8 Nov 1994) The Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and the Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin have met for talks to give impetus to a flagging peace process.

Arafat and Rabin want to try and resolve disputes that have stalled stage two of the self- rule agreement- a troop pullback from Arab cities in the West Bank and Palestinian general elections.

The two leaders met on no man's land at Erez Crossing between Gaza and Israel where they were given a stormy reception by demonstrators.

Israeli Prime-Minister, Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chairman, Yasser Arafat, met today, 8 November 1994, at the Erez junction bordering Gaza and Israel.

One of the main issues discussed was the economic situation in the Palestinian autonomous zones of Gaza and Jericho with much emphasis on Gaza's impoverished situation. Leading Palestinian businessmen met with Arafat yesterday and reportedly urged him to press Israel to lift the closure on the Gaza Strip which was imposed
on 19 October 1994 after the Tel-Aviv bus bombing. The Hebrew daily, Ma'ariv, listed a set of Palestinian Authority demands which included:

-The release of all Palestinian political prisoners who remain in Israeli jails including Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the elderly Hamas leader.
-The complete lifting of the closure on Gaza imposed over two weeks ago.
-IDF redeployment from Palestinian population centers.
-Redefining the scope of authority of a Palestinian self-rule council and the handing over of further political and civil control to the Palestinian Authority besides the spheres of health, taxation, tourism, education, and social welfare.

The Israelis are unhappy with certain current situations including the increasingly political role played by the Orient House in East Jerusalem, the inability of the Palestinian Authority and its police force to deal with Islamic fundamentalist terror
organizations, and the requests to remove Israeli soldiers from key cities in the West Bank.

The Israelis have, however, already complied with one of the Palestinian demands, and have begun a gradual ending of the closure imposed on Gaza. The closure served to further harm Gaza's crippled economy as the approximately 35 000 workers who crossed over Israel's borders to work each day, were unable to do so. Last week,
Israeli authorities allowed some 6000 men to enter Israel in the gradual lifting of the closure.

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