Joyful Gazans anticipate era of peace

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“…and hope to the people of Gaza and Jericho,’ Jabali said, but he indicated changes would take time. He told reporters the initial force of 1,500 Palestinian police officers would arrive in a week with uniforms and arms. Jabali also said the nightly curfew, one of the most hated aspects of Israel’s occupation, would not be lifted immediately.

‘We are not in control yet,’ he said. Three of the police commanders traveled in Israeli military jeeps to Jericho, expected to be the government center for Palestinian self-rule. The phased transfer of authority is largely hinged on the arrival of 7,000 policemen from outside and training 2,000 locally.

Palestinians, still doubtful about the degree of control Israel will have over their lives, did not make the signing ceremony a holiday. But the effects of the signing were immediately visible in Gaza with the start of the 11 a.m. ceremony in Cairo.

At the Rafah crossing in southern Gaza, Palestinian officials and Israeli officers watched television together as they waited for the Palestinian police commanders.

An hour after the signing, the first of 600 Palestinian prisoners, including four belonging to factions opposed to the PLO-Israel accord, got off buses on the outskirts of Gaza City to the ululations of welcoming relatives.

The four, two of them members of the militant Islamic group Hamas, which has vowed to continue attacking Israelis, had to sign a statement condemning violence and terror. As part of the PLO-Israel agreement, Israel is to free 5,000 Palestinian inmates over the next three weeks — about half those held in Israeli jails.

Israel also allowed 14 Palestinian deportees and 10 dependents to enter Israel yesterday, bringing to about 150 the number allowed back since negotiations started. Most were members of PLO Chairman Yasir Arafat’s Fatah faction who are expected to take on administrative roles.

The army sealed off Jericho early in the day, and soldiers dragged dozens of Jewish settlers out of an ancient synagogue nearby, where they had gathered to protest the autonomy agreement. Organizers said soldiers took settlers from the synagogue while they were still praying and wearing prayer shawls.

Israeli officials said about 100 settlers were detained, but settlers said 400 were taken to a nearby army camp. Right-wing Israeli leaders vowed to stage demonstrations and fight to keep autonomy from being extended to other areas of the occupied territories.

On the Palestinian side, Hamas supporters oppose the self-rule plan for not meeting Palestinian demands for an independent state. ‘We are against such agreement, and we will remain so. It is a sad day for the Palestinian people,’ said Mahmoud Zahar, a Hamas leader.

Some Palestinians expressed hope that self-rule will bring security and economic well-being, but others were skeptical. ‘I doubt that Yasir Arafat will be able to provide me with a good education and good living conditions,’ said Khaled Hussein, 19, a resident of Beach Refugee Camp in Gaza. Awad Abd-Al, 55, sounded more hopeful.

‘We hope there will be peace so that I can stop worrying about my boys getting shot by the Israelis,’ he said.”

Context added by this archive

The jump page of a front-page story. Two ordinary Gazans are named and quoted at the end, one doubtful and one hopeful, and the paper gives both of them the last word.

A correction

Headline corrected on re-read: the record carried “Celebration”, which is not printed on this page.

Cite this clipping

"Joyful Gazans anticipate era of peace," The Philadelphia Inquirer, 5 May 1994, p. 1. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1994-003. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1994-003