Word: palestinian
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Some people think it will be difficult for the P.L.O. leaders in Tunis to cooperate with Palestinian leaders in the territories...
...They don't know the relationship. The P.L.O. is the identity of the Palestinian people: there are cadres inside and outside. I signed the decree authorizing the Palestinian delegation to go to Madrid, but I kept it secret at the time. Now we are all members of the follow-up committee. But for this new stage we need to reorganize all our institutions, strengthening them to prepare for very different and difficult responsibilities...
...agreement allows an unspecified number of Palestinians to return to the territories, which were taken by Israel during the 1967 war. By Israeli count, 200,000 people were displaced by the war; P.L.O. officials speak of more than 800,000, a number that includes the descendants of the original refugees. To pacify their respective constituencies, both sides are taking extreme positions on how many exiles can come back. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has suggested the absurdly small figure of 5,000, while P.L.O. officials have said they would wave in the whole 800,000. That would increase the Palestinian...
Among those who will return will be senior members of the exiled P.L.O. leadership, which will administer self-rule until free elections are held for a Palestinian council within nine months. According to a P.L.O. official, the negotiators in Oslo discussed allowing the entire executive committee of the P.L.O. to relocate to the territories. Although Israeli officials won't say so explicitly, P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat will surely be among them. "It is not that he can come tomorrow," says Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Yossi Beilin. "That still should be discussed...
...brake on Arafat's homecoming is the problem of securing his safety. Palestinian radicals have threatened to kill him, and a former chief rabbi of Israel has blessed his murder. P.L.O. sources in the territories say Arafat plans to move between two headquarters, one in Jericho and one in the Gaza Strip, a 70-mile trip by road through central Israel. The agreement guarantees safe passage, but for Arafat, "safe" would probably necessitate a military convoy. A Palestinian force that size would irritate the Israelis, while an Israeli contingent would humiliate the P.L.O. Arafat might commute by helicopter...