M I D - E A S T  R E A L I T I E S - "NOT MUCH TO CELEBRATE"...NBC News

"The Palestinians have only about 3% of the West Bank -- that's eight towns. Israel controls all the rest. But within a year Israel must hand over more land. The Palestinians expect about another 70%. The Israelis can give as little as they want. Under the peace agreement Israel ALONE can decide how much land it needs to safeguard 130 settlements scattered throughout the West Bank. "Today the Palestinians are rejoicing in Hebron. "But as the peace talks get tougher there won't be so much to celebrate."

NBC Evening News - 1/18/97

[MER - The latest agreement signed by Yasser Arafat, as the ones before, contains within it the seeds of demoralization and dismemberment for the Palestinian people. At Oslo Arafat essentially agreed to a new form of Middle Eastern apartheid that established isolated, semi-autonomous, Palestinians Bantustans. Even Israeli officials who were at Oslo have publicly acknowledged that they were "startled" that Arafat finally agreed to their proposals. Imagine what they say in private! At Cairo -- when Arafat hesitated on stage to actually sign the agreements while everyone stood around waiting in anticipation -- this apartheid "autonomy" approach was further endorsed, complete with Jews-only "by-pass" roads, closings, and curfews. Now in Hebron the concept of a "Jewish section" of the Arab city, along with legitimacy of long-considered "illegal" Jewish settlements, has been agreed to by Arafat. Most of all, however, with the Hebron agreement, the Israelis have gotten the Americans to agree that it is up to the Israelis alone to decide what areas to turn over to Palestinians, which settlements to retain and expand, and how much "autonomy" or "self-rule" to "grant". The Americans have actually put this down on paper in side letters and memos for the record. For these reasons the current Hebron agreement, just as the previous Arafat agreements, are in reality disguised disasters for Palestinian nationalism, which is of course the main reason they have been endorsed by the Israelis and trumpted by their friends worldwide. Agreed to by a bankrupt Arafat regime which now rules through extensive intimidation and corruption, torture and bribery, the Israelis have managed to buy themselves some Palestinians to do the local "policing" in the "autonomous" areas, rather than having to continue to do it themselves. So NBC's Martin Fletcher is certainly right. After all the current deceptive hoopla, "There won't be so much to celebrate."]

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