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But even as matters stand, the out- come of election — a stunning vic- tory for Yassir Arafat (who culled 88.1 percent of the ballots against 9.3 percent for Samiha Khalil) and for his Fatah movement (which, between official candi- dates and movement-associat- ed independents, gained 65 of the Council's 88 seats) — suggests a number of important conclu- sions: The high turnout (75 percent of the registered voters) indicates that the Palestinians rejected the call of the Islamic opposition to boycott the elections and regis- tered a whopping vote of confi- dence in the agreements (however wanting, in their eyes) that Mr. Arafat has signed with Israel. The latter is certainly im- plied by Mr. Arafat's huge mar- gin of victory over Mrs. Khalil; she made the inadequacies of the Oslo accords the leading plank of her platform. So, from Israel's standpoint, it's difficult to deny that the La- bor Party's secret negotiating, openly recognizing, and finally signing a series of agreements with the PLO — rather than plugging away at the arid talks with locally based Palestinians (who were only an opaque front for the Tunis leadership, anyway) — has been vindicated. Clearly, Israel got a far better deal from Mr. Arafat than it would have from the PLO "in- siders," who were holding out for a promise of Palestinian state- hood. Had Dr. Haidar Abdel- Shafi (the head of the Palestinian delegation to the Madrid Con- ference and subsequent negotia- tions in Washington) signed the Oslo I accord, he would have been branded a Quisling, and the peace process would have been stalled indefinitely. The Palestinians have proved themselves a far more pragmat- ic and sophisticated electorate than their detractors had given them credit for. While more peo- ple than expected voted along the lines of traditional clan loyalties and 75 percent of the Council's seats were won by Fatah candi- dates or independents identified with the movement, considering that the Islamic and leftist fac- tions were not officially running, the "opposition" made an im- pressive showing. They won 10 seats (six independents identified with the Islamic front, three with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and one from the formerly Communist Palestinian People's Party). As political scientists have been quick to point out, the re- sults in the first Israeli elections, held in 1949, were similar (heav- ily weighted.toward Mapai), even with opposition parties partici- pating. An analysis of the results also shows that many people voted on the basis of economic and social rather than purely political con- siderations. They knew how to pay back old debts, handing Mr. Abdel-Shafi and Hanan Ashrawi There's little reason to believe that the Palestinian Council will be merely a rubber stamp for Mr. Arafat. (the heroes of the original Pales- tinian negotiating team) re- sounding victories. And they knew a good woman when they saw one, giving an impressive seven seats to women (three in Gaza, three in East Jerusalem, one in Nablus), which partly com- pensated for Mrs. Khalil's crush- ing defeat. All in all, there's little reason to believe that the Palestinian Council will be merely a rubber stamp for Mr. Arafat's policies and whims. Although only 10 vic- torious openly represent opposi- tion views, a number of others (including independents identi- fied with Fatah) can be counted on to give the president a hard run for his money. These include Dr. Abdel-Shafi, long an outspo- ken critic of the PNA's policies and standards, and former-Civil Rights Commissioner Harlan Ashrawi. What's more, unlike in the Knesset, members of the Palestinian Council must answer to constituents in their home dis-