AFTER months of tinkering and backtracking over the Hebron peace deal, Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, and Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, agreed early this morning that Israeli troops should pull out of 80 per cent of the West Bank town of Hebron, an Israeli official said.
The accord was announced after a two-hour summit between Mr Netanyahu and Mr Arafat to close three months of extremely tough negotiations as the Israelis sought greater security guarantees for Jewish settlers in Hebron.
Israel's spokesman, Mr Shai Bazak, said the chief negotiators of the two sides, Mr Dan Shomron for Israel and Mr Saeb Eerakat for the Palestinians, had initialled the accord on Hebron, the only West Bank town still under occupation.
The pact provides for Israeli forces to withdraw in the next few days from four-fifths of Hebron, handing over the area to Mr Arafat's Palestinian Authority.
The Israelis will also quit rural areas of the West Bank still under their control in three stages between next March and mid-1998, sources close to the negotiations said.
The text of the agreement will now have to be approved by the authorities of both sides. A session of the Israeli parliament has already been set aside for today, and Mr Netanyahu can expect bitter opposition from hardline members.
The agreement caps four months of tortuous negotiations brokered by US envoy Dennis Ross.
President Bill Clinton welcomed the conclusion of a peace package for extending Palestinian rule to Hebron, saying "the forces of peace prevailed over a history of division.
This achievement brings to a successful conclusion the talks that were launched in Washington last September," Mr Clinton said shortly after the agreement was reached.
Mr Clinton said the accord "brings us another step close to a lasting secure Middle East peace.
"Once, again the Israelis and the Palestinians have shown they can resolve their differences and help to build a brighter future for their children by finding ways to address each other's concerns.
"And once again, the forces of peace have prevailed over a history of division," Mr Clinton said.
Mr Clinton said he spoke by telephone with Mr Netanyahu and Mr Arafat, who met at the Erez Crossing in the Gaza Strip.
After the agreement was concluded behind closed doors, Mr Netanyahu and Mr Arafat emerged to shake hands before the cameras but did not speak.
Mr Ross said the agreement was _ "fully consistent" with the previous Israel-Palestinian agreement of 1995, but the part dealing with Hebron was "more detailed".
The second document - the so-called "note for the record" - referred to the part that deals with the further West Bank pull-outs and other issues.
"Taken together these two documents represent a very important building block in terms of developing relations between the two sides ... and peace in the Middle East as a whole, he said.
No specific details on the agreement were immediately available. But it is thought that in addition to Israel giving the Palestinians control of 80 per cent of the Biblical city within days, Israel has furthermore committed to roll back its presence in the West Bank in three stages - beginning in six weeks and ending in August 1998.
It is first concrete step in the peace process since Mr Netanyahu's hardline government took office in June, pledging to slow down the handover of land to the Palestinians. Tensions between the two sides have risen sharply as the stalemate lengthened. In September, Palestinian frustration sparked clashes with Israel in which 79 people died.
But today's agreement sets the stage for future conflict by leaving as many questions as it answers - most notably the scope of the planned Israeli withdrawals. The Palestinians hope to gain control of most of the West Bank, but Mr Netanyahu by some reports plans to cede as little as one-third of the territory which Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast War.
Mr Bazak said Mr Netanyahu would today take the agreement to his Cabinet - where about half the ministers have said they are against or undecided.
Mr Arafat is expected to encounter less opposition when he places the accord before his own Cabinet.
The accord is also to be brought to the Israeli Knesset, where it is expected to be passed by a huge majority with the support of the opposition.