By John F. Harris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, December 15, 1998; Page A01

GAZA CITY, Dec. 14—President Clinton gave a powerful boost to the cause of Palestinian sovereignty today as he became the first U.S. president to travel to Gaza, a troubled patch of land on the Mediterranean whose name for decades has been shorthand for the historic enmities of the Middle East.

Greeted by a military honor guard at the new Gaza International Airport and cheered boisterously at a speech to the Palestinian Authority's supreme council, Clinton stood as witness while the assemblage renounced sections of the Palestinian Charter calling for the destruction of Israel.

Offering thanks for the gesture, Clinton told the group that it was leaving behind "a history of dispossession and dispersal," and now had "the opportunity to shape a new Palestinian future on your own land."

[Early Tuesday morning Clinton, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu met at the Erez border crossing between Gaza and Israel. A senior U.S. official had cautioned against expecting major breakthroughs, but expressed hope that the participants could establish a trilateral committee aimed at reaching compromise on a controversy over the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails that has caused widespread Palestinian rioting in recent weeks.]

In the near term, Clinton had achieved an important -- though quite incremental -- gain in salvaging the Middle East peace process. At the Wye River Plantation summit in Maryland in October, Netanyahu had insisted that the session of the Palestinian council affirm earlier pledges by Palestinian Authority Chairman Arafat that his people had forsaken their historic aim of driving Israelis into the sea.

Netanyahu said he was satisfied by today's show of hands renouncing the pledge to destroy Israel. But Netanyahu also has told Clinton that he will not meet a Friday deadline for the next phase of turning over control of land in the Israeli-occupied West Bank to the Palestinians.

Senior U.S. officials said they were not prepared to press Netanyahu harder on the deadline, since he is under intense criticism from within his own Likud-led coalition over concessions he has already made and is facing a parliamentary confidence vote on Dec. 21.

All sides agreed that the importance of Clinton's visit soared far above any short-term questions on the mechanics or timetable of the peace process.

From the moment Clinton's Marine One helicopter touched down here until he flew back to Jerusalem nearly eight hours later, there was a succession of vivid words and images that suggested how much closer the Palestinian Authority has come to its aspirations of sovereignity.

Giant U.S. and Palestinian flags hung from the airport control tower. Clinton and Arafat lavished praise on each other all day. The two leaders met for private talks and then held an official luncheon, in precisely the fashion that Clinton follows when he is on state visits.

And, while the U.S. position is that Palestinian statehood is an issue that must be decided in final-status negotiations between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, Clinton acknowledged that a visit such as his "would have been inconceivable a decade ago." Before then, the United States and Palestinians had no official relations at all.

In the room today were members from the Palestinian National Council, considered the supreme body of the Palestinian people, and the Palestinian Legislative Council. Opposition groups, several of which are on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations, boycotted the session, calling it a farce that had been orchestrated to please Netanyahu.

The ecstatic welcome Clinton received today, and the modest movement on the peace process, combined to give the first sense of uplift to what has been a decidedly downbeat journey. The impending showdown over impeachment in Washington, and a series of confrontational statements by Netanyahu, cast a shadow over much of his visit.

Knowing the animosity most Palestinians feel toward Netanyahu's rule, Clinton's 30-minute speech asked people to make distinctions in their sentiments.

"You did a good thing today in raising your hands," Clinton said. "You know why? It has nothing to do with the government in Israel. You will touch the people of Israel."

For his part, Arafat said he expected that today's session "would close this chapter forever," and that Palestinians "see a nearing shining light" after a century marked by poverty and territorial battles.

Seeking to maintain a careful political balance in his rhetoric, Clinton repeatedly stressed how both sides have suffered in the nearly century-old conflict between Palestinians and Jews. In the course of this trip, Clinton said, he had met two different sets of children. Sunday night, he said, he met with Israeli children whose fathers were killed in military conflicts. Today, he met Palestinian children whose fathers are in Israeli jails. "We must acknowledge that neither side has a monopoly on pain or virtue," he said.

This kind of neutral language, along with the potent symbolism of Clinton's travel here, will change how Palestinians are viewed by the rest of the world, many people here hope. While the debate over Palestinian political status will continue, Clinton suggested that the people here already have earned moral legitimacy as a sovereign people, said Khader Shawa, 36, a businessman who lives here and in the United States. "This the first step to go forward to become a Palestinian state," he said. "Clinton's not going to come here to show up, to show off something is cooking."

White House national security adviser Samuel R. "Sandy" Berger agreed the visit had deep resonance, even while emphasizing that statehood is an issue on which the United States takes no position while negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians are underway.

"The people in that room felt validated as human beings," he said, "as Palestinians, as a people, by virtue of the fact that the president of the United States came to Gaza and spoke with them."

But in some ways today's session also highlighted how elusive Middle East peace can be even when gains seem already in hand. U.S. officials earlier this year had considered the Palestinian Charter issue to be resolved, after Arafat wrote Clinton explicitly saying that the portions dealing with Israel's destruction were void. But the Israeli government said this was not good enough.

At the Wye River talks, Israeli Trade Minister Natan Sharansky told Clinton it was important for the renunciation to take place publicly so that it would have an impact on both Israeli and Palestinian hearts.

Somewhat grudgingly, Arafat went along. "The whole setup is a kind of blackmail from Mr. Netanyahu," said Salah Tamari, a Palestinian legislator from Bethlehem. "But if this is the price we pay for peace, then let it be."