Quote from Text: "The agreement symbolizes the final downfall of the Zionist ideology which views the West Bank as part of Biblical Israel."

Excerpts:

Many Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip reacted to last Friday's Wye Plantation agreement with ambivalence and scepticism, preferring to wait and see how, and if, the agreement would be implemented on the ground.

On the one hand, Palestinians welcomed the promised redeployment of the Israeli army from 10 per cent of West Bank territory in addition to the partial and largely disingenuous redeployment from an additional three per cent, slated to become a "nature reserve".

On the other hand, the bulk of Palestinians have been disheartened by the stringent conditions attached to the agreement, particularly with regards to security, and also by the uncertainty hanging over a third redeployment.

Supporters of the deal argued that the Palestinians succeeded for the first time ever in regaining Palestinian land from a Likud-led government that embraces the ideology of "Eretz Yisrael".

"The agreement symbolises the final downfall of the Zionist ideology which views the West Bank as part of historical, Biblical Israel," said Al-Tayeb Abdel-Rehim, an aide of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. [IMRA: But even non-Zionists know that the West Bank was "part of historical biblical Israel".]

"We did not get all we wanted," he said, but added in a self-reassuring tone that "this is an interim agreement . . .".

Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and a former Minister of Higher Education, warned against infringing on civil liberties, especially freedom of the press and _expression in the name of fulfilling commitments.

Another Palestinian councillor, Hosam Khader . . . a long-time critic of Arafat's administration, voiced anxiety over the role given to the American Central Intelligence Agency [CIA] in overseeing Palestinian security compliance.

"I'm afraid our entire security apparatus will become an extra-territorial department of the CIA," said Khader. As expected, Hamas castigated the agreement, saying it amounted to total surrender. Sheikh Nayef Rajoub, Hamas spokesman in the Hebron area, described the accord as a "security pact between Israel and the Palestinian Authority," saying the "Israelis, Americans and the PA are all after Hamas."

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