A bomb killed the occupants of a car in the northern Israeli town of Tiberias Important points in the revised Wye River accord Israel will relinquish another 11 percent of the West Bank to Palestinian control over five months, giving the Palestinian Authority complete or partial control of 42 percent of the territory. Israel will release 350 prisoners -- 200 immediately and another 150 in October. The two sides will establish a framework for final peace talks by February 15, 2000, with a goal of signing a permanent accord by September 2000. The Palestinians can begin building their own seaport in Gaza. Israel will guarantee safe passage corridors for Palestinians between Gaza and the West Bank. The Palestinians will implement security commitments, including the collection of illegal firearms, the arrest or detention of Palestinian fugitives and providing Israel the names of all Palestinian police. MESSAGE BOARDS: Mideast peace  ALSO: VIDEO CNN's Jerrold Kessel reports hard-liners are unhappy on both sides. Windows Media 28K 80K

September 5, 1999
Web posted at: 2:43 p.m. EDT (1843 GMT)

In this story: Agreement breaks negotiation deadlock Hard-liners unhappy on both sides RELATED STORIES, SITES

TIBERIAS, Israel (CNN) -- Suspected car bombs in two northern Israeli towns killed at least three people Sunday, just hours after Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat signed a revamped land-for-security accord.

Police were investigating the explosions in the Sea of Galilee town of Tiberias and the Mediterranean port city of Haifa as terrorist attacks.

Barak issued a statement condemning the attacks Sunday, but made no comment about the future of peace efforts. He said the perpetrators died in the bombing and "a serious attack was prevented."

"Israel will not accept any kind of violence or terrorism against innocent civilians," Barak said.

All of the dead -- two in Tiberias and at least one in Haifa -- were found inside the vehicles, both Fiat Unos. Four pedestrians, including one woman listed in critical condition, were injured in Tiberias. No injuries were reported in Haifa.

"It was a tremendous explosion," a witness in Tiberias told Israeli Army Radio. "I ran outside and saw a car on fire. Its parts were scattered over a radius of 50 meters (164 feet)."

The Tiberias bomb went off as the car carrying it careened down a busy main street near the center of the holiday resort. Twenty minutes later and nearly 100 kilometers (60 miles) away in Haifa, a second bomb exploded in a city parking lot.

There was no clear indication that the explosions were terrorist acts related to the Mideast peace process. But both hard-line Israelis and Palestinians oppose the new agreement, and Islamic extremists have threatened to escalate violence in the wake of the signing.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told CNN on Sunday that the Palestinian Authority was "firm in its policy of zero tolerance to terror."

"I hope that the enemies of peace will not resort to such activities," Erakat said. "We are determined to continue. I hope these enemies of peace will be stopped."

A series of bus bombings helped cripple the peace process in 1996 and led to the election of hard-liner Benjamin Netanyahu as Israel's prime minister. Barak, campaigning on promises to reinvigorate the process, defeated Netanyahu in elections earlier this year.

The blasts came shortly after Israel's Cabinet ratified the updated Wye River land-for-security accord, which Barak and Arafat signed Sunday in Egypt.

Barak and Arafat ended months of stalled negotiations by putting their names to the agreement in front of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Jordan's King Abdullah II and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Mubarak who applauded as the two men signed the agreement and embraced.

"The people of the Middle East are ready for the dawn of a new era," Barak said after the signing. "I believe it is our duty, leaders of all parties, to pave the way."

Arafat added, "We assert, as we always promised, that we respect and implement our commitments."

Sunday's Cabinet vote was 21-2 in favor of the agreement --Interior Minister Natan Sharansky of the Russian immigrant Yisrael Ba-Aliyah party and Construction Minister Yitzhak Levy of the National Religious Party voted against the accord.

Barak will now defend the agreement before the Knesset, Israel's parliament, where a stiffer fight was expected. But Barak's coalition holds a 73-47 majority in parliament, and implementation is expected to begin by next weekend.

	. . . . News: Wye River Memorandum Background: Mideast Timeline The West Bank in Brief Key Players Maps: Middle East Israel Land-for-peace deal Interactive: Message board

Hard-line Israeli and Palestinian activists each accused their respective leaders of giving too many concessions. Jewish settlers living on occupied land in the West Bank condemned the deal, saying it would place them at risk.

"Barak deserves a medal of honor for his incredible success in making a dangerous agreement worse," Uri Ariel, the mayor of Beit El settlement, said in a statement.

Outside Bethlehem, young Palestinians burned a model of an Israeli prison and threw stones at Israeli troops, slightly injuring a press photographer. Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the spiritual head of the militant Islamic group Hamas, dismissed the agreement as "concessions to Israeli and American pressure. All that served is Israeli security."

Serious political opposition to the agreement has already surfaced. United Torah Judaism, an ultra-conservative religious party, threatened Saturday to quit Israel's coalition government -- in part because negotiations with the Palestinians took place on the Sabbath.

Correspondent Jerrold Kessel contributed to this report.

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