Thursday, July 20, 1995

Israel, PA close 5 days of mtgs to draft transfer of authority accord. FM Peres says sides have reached "very important understandings," made progress on water, redeployment issues; PA officials say 19 points of dispute remain. Israel says it will free up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners at the signing of the agmt., hopefully to occur 7/25. (MM 7/20; ITV, VOP 7/20 in FBIS 7/21; WT 7/21; WP 7/22; CSM 7/24)

Jordanian parliament's joint legal comm. endorses (by vote of 17-3) draft legislation that will formally end Jordan's role in the Israeli boycott. The bill will be up for parliamentary vote later this mo. (RJ 7/20 in FBIS 7/21; NYT 7/21) (see 6/28)

Palestinian-Israeli, Jordanian businessmen close 3-day mtg. in Amman; agree to focus on 3 areas of cooperation: exporting Jordanian products to Israel, producing goods in Jordan to Israeli specifications for the Israeli market or for export to 3d countries via established Israeli networks, sharing Israeli technology. (JT 7/20 in FBIS 7/20; RJ 7/20 in FBIS 7/21)

Israeli police arrest 11 Palestinians, accusing them of working for the PA's Preventative Security Force (PSF) in East Jerusalem. (QY 7/20 in FBIS 7/21)