TUNIS, Tunisia -- PLO officials said Tuesday PLO leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitshak Rabin will hold a summit meeting in Cairo Wednesday.
The meeting will be the first since the two men shook hands in Washington last month after the signing of the Israeli-PLO peace agreement.
On the agenda will be the implementation of the peace accord and the recent Israeli army operations in the Occupied Territories.
The Washington agreement provides for an Israeli military withdrawl from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho and the transfer of authority to the Palestinians. The accord is due to come into effect on Oct. 13 but significant details remain to be worked out.
In particular, the PLO has yet to name its delgation to discuss the arrangements with Israel. This was one of the reasons for the Cairo summit, according to the PLO officials.
They said Arafat will use the summit meeting to express his concern about recent Israeli army operations against suspected Palestinian activists in Gaza.
Two men were killed and 40 activists arrested in the action that Israel said was directed against armed Islamic militants opposed to the peace plan.
The PLO has protested the operations as a violation of the peace agreement and officials fear the incident could undermine the self-rule accord by increasing support for radical groups opposed to the deal.
PLO officials said Arafat would ask Rabin to make a goodwill gesture and release Palestinian detainees, including Sheikh Yassine, the spiritual leader of the militant Islamic fundamentalist Hamas movement.
