November 16, 1995
Web posted at: 12:15 a.m. EST (0515 GMT)
From Correspondent Brent Sadler
GAZA STRIP, West Bank (CNN) -- Palestinians in Gaza celebrated their self-declared day of independence Wednesday. It was an anniversary which had more meaning than ever before as the peace agreement between Israel and Yasser Arafat's PLO continued to take shape.
Thousands of Gaza residents packed into a sports stadium to watch the parades, which are considered an exhibition of ardent Palestinian nationalism. They had reason to celebrate real change, not only in Gaza but elsewhere on the Israeli-occupied West Bank. (588K QuickTime movie)
Israel is pressing ahead with a handover of territory. Five more West Bank towns should be under Palestinian control by the end of the year. "In the end it will be done," one observer said. "The Palestinian state will be here very soon. It will rise."
But even as the peace process inched forward, anger and frustration burst out on the streets of Nablus. Palestinian stone-throwers attacked Israeli army and police patrols. Nablus is expected to be handed over to Palestinian rule in the coming weeks. The clashes were a reminder that the process of peacemaking is fraught with difficulties on both sides of the Palestinian-Israeli divide.
An outburst of Jewish anger towards the peace accord ended up in a Jerusalem court. Two ultra-religious students admitted spitting and attempting to urinate on the grave of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
In Tel Aviv Thursday morning, Yigal Amir, Rabin's confessed assassin, re-enacted the killing for police in the early hours Thursday. Israeli passers-by cursed him and called for his death, a witness said. (378K QuickTime movie)
Dozens of police cars crowded around the square at 2 a.m. (0000 GMT) on Thursday while Amir, dressed in a white flak jacket, showed how he drew a pistol and fired the three shots which killed Rabin and wounded a bodyguard, said photographer Yonathan Shaul of the Israeli newspaper Maariv.
Another suspect in Rabin's murder, a woman, also appeared in court. The 20-year-old settler arrested on the West Bank was the eighth person to be held for questioning in relation to the assassination.
Since Arafat's symbolic declaration of an independent state seven years ago, Palestinian aspirations have changed dramatically. An undisguised process of nation-building continues to unfold.
Arafat is now as much a target to opposition extremists among his own people as Rabin was. The PLO leader's security now tighter than ever.
In Jerusalem, Israeli President Ezer Weizman openly condemned the inequality of Israel's Arab citizens. After launching the formation process of the new post-Rabin government, the Israeli president said in a television interview that the Arabs have "very big problems." "They do not receive the same budget. There are feelings of inequality."
Weizman told Israel TV that the question of who will be prime minister is not the only focus. "The answer lies in budgets, in feelings, in the employment of Arab university graduates in Israeli industry," Weizman said.
Early Wednesday, the Israeli president asked acting Prime Minister Shimon Peres to form a government in the aftermath of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on November 4. Weizman did not divulge whether he encouraged Peres to include Arab parties in his new government.
In any case, Palestinians have high hopes of a brighter future, hopes of a Palestinian state within five days. But there are many obstacles still in the way. Dr. Sari Nusseibeh, a university professor, says that those obstacles include settlements, final borders, refugees and of course, above all, Jerusalem. (65K AIFF sound or 65K WAV sound)
And in Gaza, there is the reality of everyday life. Almost 60 percent unemployment and severe economic hardship, with only the promise that freedom from Israeli rule will one day provide a better life.
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