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Israel recognizes PLO, which renounces violence

By JONATHAN FERZIGER

JERUSALEM -- Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization formally recognized each other Thursday and were ready to sign a historic agreement gradually granting self-rule to the 1.8 million Arab residents of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

In an exchange of letters with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat recognized the state of Israel and pledged to renounce violence and terrorism.

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'The PLO considers that the signing of the declaration of principles constitutes a historic event, inaugurating a new epoch of peaceful coexistence, free from violence and all other acts which endanger peace and stability,' Arafat wrote.

'Accordingly, the PLO renounces the use of terrorism and other acts of violence and will assume responsibility over all PLO elements and PLO personnel in order to assure their compliance, prevent violations and discipline violators.'

Arafat also urged Palestinians in the occupied territories to end the violent aspects of the intifada, the nearly 6-year-old uprising against Israeli authority.

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In turn, Rabin wrote to Arafat: 'In light of the PLO commitments included in your letter, the government of Israel has decided to recognize the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people and commence negotiations with the PLO within the Middle East peace process. '

Both Rabin's inner C'linet in Jerusalem and the PLO Executive Committee in Tunis voted to approve a treaty worked out in secret negotiations that would end decades of hostilities.

Rabin initialed the agreement in advance of a formal signing ceremony Friday morning. Norwegian Foreign Minister Johan Jorgen Holst was to arrive from Tunis with the documents signed by PLO chairman Yasser Arafat, which were then to be signed by Rabin.

'I think it's the opening of a new era,' said Shulamit Aloni, communications minister and leader of the left-wing Meretz Party.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and his PLO counterpart, Farouk Kadoumi, were expected to travel to Washington Monday for a White House ceremony to sign the formal declaration of principles granting limited autonomy to residents of the occupied territories, starting with Gaza and Jericho.

The approval of the treaty came from Rabin's inner Cabinet, which is a pared-down version of the full Cabinet. The reason that the full body was not summoned was to avoid a legal tangle that would have been created by the presence of Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, who is resigning in the face of corruption charges.

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Earlier in the day, Rabin sought to explain to members of his own Labor Party why he was reversing Israel's decades-old policy and talking directly with the PLO.

'You don't negotiate peace with friends. You make it with very unsympathetic enemies. I will not try to make the PLO look nicer than it is. It was an enemy. It is still an enemy,' Rabin said.

'But it is with enemies that one undertakes negotiations and we came to the conclusion that among the Palestinians we can either talk to the PLO and its supporters who favor an agreement, or the Hamas, which opposes one, or to remain in the current situation, because there is no other partner.'

Hamas, a radical Muslim movement centered in the Gaza Strip, has vowed to undermine the pact with the PLO and wants to replace all of Israel and the occupied territories with an Islamic state.

Rabin needs to hold together his wafer-thin majority in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, to see through the peace agreement negotiated secretly with the PLO in Oslo. While he has the numerical strength for a slim approval, the prime minister is trying to recruit members of the opposition to vote for the pact in order to prove it has wide support.

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The right-wing has maintained that Rabin does not have popular support to talk with the PLO and has called for a national referendum on the matter before any agreement is approved.

Until now, Israel had refused to talk directly with the PLO, which it regarded as a terrorist organization, responsible for the killing of hundreds of its citizens. During two years of Middle East peace talks, Israel has insisted that the Palestinians be represented by a team of delegates who live inside the occupied territories but are not members of the PLO.

Rabin said it was a charade that had not worked.

'From the beginning it was clear that without approval from (PLO headquarters in) Tunis, the Palestinian delegation would not budge a millimeter,' Rabin said.

Rabin said at least three agreements would be signed with the PLO once it renounces the sections of its charter that call for the destruction of the Jewish state.

Among the agreements, he said, will be a declaration that the PLO will continue to negotiate the future status of the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip and no longer engage in violence against Israel. Such a promise would put an end to the intifada, which has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Palestinians and 100 Israelis.

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'We came to the conclusion that there was no partner but the PLO, but only under certain conditions,' Rabin said.

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