Accord Stirs Skepticism but Hope in O.C.

Even as Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed an agreement in Washington on Thursday that calls for the staged withdrawal of Israeli troops from the West Bank, Sami Odeh of Orange had a hard time working up a lot of enthusiasm for the pact.

Two months ago, Odeh was in the West Bank himself. He heard the frequent gunfire, found himself trapped in countless roadblocks and listened to the horror stories of those whose sons and daughters were detained for weeks or months by Israeli troops without word of their return.

“Any agreement is a step in the right direction,” said Odeh, president of the Orange County Chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. “But this has come a year too late. Life is hell over there and these people need room to breathe.”

Likewise, Rabbi Haim Asa, who has always supported Palestinian self-rule, harbors grave doubts about the accord.

“I don’t trust the signatures on the paper on either side,” he said.

Asa, of Temple Beth Tikvah in Fullerton, said he fears Israel has given away too much territory without receiving enough guarantees that the Palestinians can keep the peace.

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For many who follow the tumultuous events in the Middle East, Thursday’s agreement was simply another step in the process, but hardly a solution. The 460-page agreement signed Thursday calls on Israeli soldiers to end their 28-year occupation of Arab cities in the West Bank by early next year.

While that might seem a cause for celebration for 1 million Palestinians who live there, dozens of thorny issues remain, including the fate of Jewish settlers in the area and whether a Palestinian state will ever be established.

“I don’t think we’re anywhere near a solution,” said Daniel Schroeter, who holds UCI’s first-ever endowed chair in Jewish history. “I would say simply that the momentum continues because there is a sense by many that there is no alternative to rolling back the situation.”

Schroeter said Israelis and Arabs were heartened two years ago when PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin clasped hands and signed the framework for peace for the first time. But ever since, the Middle East has continued to be racked by violence.

“Two years down the line, we are seeing increased terrorism, increased mistrust on the part of Israelis, and the seeming lack of real results for Palestinians,” Schroeter said. “The initial optimism has been replaced by a more sober view on the part of some and by others a repudiation of what had occurred.”

Israelis and Palestinians harbor an ages-old resentment of one another, and extremists on both sides promise continuing political repercussions and violence over the latest developments.

There is Hebron, for instance, where more than 400 Israeli settlers live amid 12,000 Arabs. Although the area is now being turned over to the Palestinians and is to be patrolled by Palestinian police, a small group of Israeli soldiers will be left in place to protect the settlers.

“With regards to Hebron,” Schroeter said, “I think that’s an area that is beyond any kind of satisfaction on either side and I think further confrontation is almost inevitable.”

Asa, who took up arms at age 17 and fought for Israeli statehood in 1948, is baffled by what Israel hopes to gain in the latest agreement.

“The Labor Party is giving away the country, in a sense. If the Likud were in power, there would be no signing of this accord at least,” he said. “I’m not saying the Palestinians will destroy us. But the terrorism can continue. The minute the Israeli army retreats from the West Bank, there is no going back. Who will police?”

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Another trouble spot, the Gaza Strip, is plagued by too much instability to support lasting peace, Asa said.

“I hope that this signing will make life better for the poor Arabs living in Gaza, because without economic security there can be no guarantee of peace,” Asa said.

Maurice Abrams of Anaheim, a charter member of the Cousins Club, a local group of Jews and Arabs who advocate the establishment of a Palestinian state, called the accord “a big step forward on a very long journey. Perhaps not as big a step as it should be.”

The 78-year-old Abrams said many people suspect the peace accord to be more smoke than substance.

“They say this is just an exercise. Nothing really changes,” he said. “I mean, the Israeli government and its soldiers continue to have control from the outside.”

In fact, the agenda for the next meeting of the Cousins Club is devoted to this question: How sincere are both sides in signing the accord?

Yet Abrams is hopeful that the day will come when Palestinian self-rule will be a reality.

“The media likes to emphasize the atrocities,” he said. “So the public thinks this is a problem with no solution. And that’s just not true.”