Give peace a chance

WASHINGTON -- PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yizhak Rabin, old foes, engaged in an historic handshake Monday on the White House lawn and both pledged to 'give peace a chance.'

The dramatic political shift for the two leaders, after decades of bitter hostility, was a welcome sight for more than 3,000 guests, including two former presidents and a host of high-ranking dignitaries.

There were smiles, laughter and joviality among the guests, U.S. Jewish and Arab leaders who had often crossed swords on talk shows and at seminars on opposite sides of the 'Palestinian question.'

Perhaps one of the biggest smiles was on the face of President Bill Clinton, who has not always been so lucky in foreign affairs. But fate smiled on him when it fell to him to host the breathtaking ceremony heralding 'the beginning of the end' of bloodshed and conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The occasion was the staging of the signing of an Israeli-Palestinian agreement on the transfer of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho to Palestinian autonomy, and the lifting of the military occupation which had prevailed since 1967.

Also among the leading guests were former U.S. presidents Jimmy Carter and George Bush, who had spurred peace efforts throughout their White House years and basked in the glory of the breakthrough.

The euphoria of the audience was contagious. Guests were completely engrossed in the words of the speakers -- including Clinton, Arafat and Rabin -- and jumped to their feet at the conclusion of their remarks, giving each of them prolonged standing ovations.

Rabin told the gathering there had been 'enough of blood and tears' and called on the pople to say 'Farewell to Arms.'

Quoting from Ecclesiastes, the Israeli prime minister, a general who led Israel's army in the conquest of the West Bank and Gaza 26 years ago, wound up his remarks by saying 'the time for peace has come.'

But it was Arafat who went out of his way to shake hands with Rabin, drawing a roar of cheers and wild applause from the guests.

Arafat also picked up on the Rabin theme, taken from the Beatles song of the Sixties 'to give peace a chance.'

And it was Arafat who captured the spotlight, holding center stage with his magnetic persona added to the public curiousity about the man who was so often called the head of a 'terrorist' organization.

He wore his khaki uniform and black and white kaffiyeh (head dress). But he left his trademark side arm home.

In good spirits and appearing relaxed on his first visit to Washington, Arafat has been conducting a public relations blitz with speeches and interviews to put the once-dreaded Palestine Liberation Organization on the map in good standing.

Among the witnesses to the ceremony were men who had spent much time in their eras at the White House, including former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and James Baker.

Kissinger found it all 'very moving,' adding 'it was also very historic. How historic will be decided in the next few years.'

'It would be a tragedy if it turned only into rhetoric,' he said.

Baker praised the 'extraordinary personal and political courage' that it took on the part of Rabin and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and on the part of Arafat 'to make this agreement.'

'In the Middle East, when you get something like this reality changes,' he said. 'Everything will be looked at and addressed in a different light from now on.'

Senator Patrick Moynihan, Democrat of New York, noted that it was Arafat's handshake that brought down the house.

'This is the end of the first World War,' Moynihan said, referring to the agreements that carved up the Ottoman Empire in the early part of this century. 'At long last the Palestine mandate has been liquidated.'