Changing the Guard

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Joint patrols were also working well in Jericho. Two vehicles, one from each side, cruised the area together, flying bright saffron flags, their occupants communicating in Arabic, Hebrew and sometimes English on Israeli-issued Motorola radios. Said an Israeli soldier: "They were our enemies, but now we work together. We made the switch." His Palestinian counterpart added, "We are friendly with them, trading water, food and hot drinks."

While cooperation was building mutual confidence in Jericho, P.L.O. Chairman Yasser Arafat stirred up a furor in Israel when remarks he had made at a Johannesburg mosque on May 10 were broadcast. Arafat called for a "jihad to liberate Jerusalem." Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin deemed the comment a violation of the Chairman's pledge to forgo violence and threatened to stop the peace process. Arafat explained that he had used "jihad" in its general sense to mean "struggle," in this case a peaceful one, rather than "holy war," as Westerners and Israelis usually interpret the word. The Israelis reluctantly accepted his explanation and continued discussions on turning over the rest of the West Bank to the P.L.O.

While the Gaza Strip remained tense at week's end, P.L.O. leaders said they were sanguine that they would soon manage to quiet the enclave. Freih Abu Middain, a leading P.L.O. official in Gaza, estimated that it would take a week for Palestinian security forces to establish order. There was powerful motivation, since Israel has made further withdrawals in the West Bank conditional on the success of the Gaza-Jericho experiment. "We have an enormous responsibility to protect our achievements," said Lieut. Colonel Munther Irshaid, the P.L.O. officer in charge of municipal affairs in Jericho. "We cannot afford mistakes." On that, Israelis and Palestinians were in total agreement last week.