AP/GREG MARINOVIC H

Time with joint Israeli-Palestinian patrols
shows competition -- on the chess board
and volleyball court.

ERIC SILVER

ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT

bu Sha'aban, a chubby, with M-16 rifles, the Palestini-
40-year-old Palestinian in ans with the ubiquitous Kalash-
plain khaki fatigues with- nikovs. The media liaison, Pvt.
out insignia, learned his Engel, stayed behind. Unautho-
soldiering in Lebanon, rized soldiers are barred from
where he fought the in- Palestinian-controlled territory,
vading Israelis in 1982. and his superiors were taking no
He learned his Hebrew in an Is- chances.
raeli prison in his native Gaza,
As the narrow, twisting road
where he served three years for turned from asphalt to tire-test-
. illegal activity in Yassir Arafat's ing stones and rutted earth, the
Fatah militia.
Israelis drew to one side and
Along the way, Mr. Pales tinian waved their Palestinian
Sha'aban picked up a Musli ms lay partners into the lead. Six
Beirut University law de- prayer mats weeks ago, the border police
bet ore
gree. He also plays a mean
were the feared and hated
mid day
game of chess. His latest praye rs in _ enforcers of the 29-year oc-
adversary is Pvt. Gilead
cupation.
Heb ron.
Engel, a lanky, 18-year-old
They don't expect the
Israeli conscript who sports the Palestinians to forgive and forget
knitted kippah usually associat- so quickly, though people we
ed with the settler right.
passed along the way seemed
The score so far: Palestine 2, more indifferent than hostile.
Israel 1. "It isn't easy to beat
We stopped at Abu Sneineh, a
him," concedes Mr. Sha'aban. rocky plateau overlooking the
"He's very good, very tough."
ancient, contentious center
The two chess buffs are sta- of Hebron, a hill city sacred to
tioned at the district coordinat
Jews and Muslims as the burial
ing office, a cluster of white place of their common ancestor
caravans surrounded by razor Abraham. To the right, behind a
wire on a bleak hilltop south of pillared wall built by the wicked
Hebron. Here, Israeli and Pales- King Herod, was the massive
tinian security forces have sur- shrine of the patriarchs, where
prised a skeptical world by the warring faiths worship in
keeping the peace since Israeli sullen segregation. To the left
troops withdrew from 80 percent was the Jewish quarter, home to
of this most incendiary of West 450 heavily guarded settlers.
Bank cities.
The joint patrol was there to
Mr. Sha'aban is legal adviser make sure no vengeful Palestin-
to the local Palestinian com- ian used the isolated site to snipe
mander; Pvt. Engel is the Israeli at the Jewish families down be-
media liaison. The two sides of low. Other patrols survey the
the shared headquarters are di- buffer zone and vantage points
vided by a wire fence, but the gate between the 100,000 Arab resi-
between them is more often open dents and their Jewish neigh-
than closed. Most of the Israeli bors. .
officers have a working knowl-
"Coordination is very good," re-
edge of Arabic. Like Mr. ports the Israeli district com-
Sha'aban, many of the Palestini- mander, Col. Gadi Shamny, back
ans acquired Hebrew the hard at headquarters. "The Palestin-
way.
ian police have 15 checkpoints of
By now they drink coffee to- their own to prevent demonstra-
gether and call each other by tions moving toward the Jewish
their first names. They even play enclave. We prevent Jewish
volleyball across the wire. But demonstrations from our side.
it hasn't always been so relaxed. We report any intelligence we
`The first time I sat playing chess have of potential clashes.
on the Palestinian side," Pvt. En-
"Every Palestinian police sta-
gel confesses, "I found myself sur- tion has a rapid-response team,
rounded by 10 Arabs with each with 16 men. On our side,
Kalashnikov automatics. I was soldiers have standing orders to
very afraid."
stop any Israeli shooting at Pales-
It is, after all, only four months tinians. If necessary, they may
since Israeli and Palestinian open fire at him."
forces exchanged bloody fire in
The results are impressive, but
Ramallah and Nablus, two cities on Abu Sneineh there is no frat-
handed over earlier in the peace ernization. The two teams sit in
process to Palestinian rule. If the their respective jeeps, the Pales-
initial uncertainty has subsided tinians taciturn, the Israelis read-
in the Hebron base, it remained ing the sports pages of the Tel
palpable on a joint patrol through Aviv tabloids. When a photogra-
an outlying Palestinian neigh- pher persuades one of the border
borhood, more village than sub- policemen to kick a soccer ball
urb.
with a bunch of local Arab kids,
Paramilitary Israeli border po- he tucks a revolver into his belt
lice and khaki-clad Palestinian before getting down.
cops rode in separate jeeps, each
Hebron simmers, but for now
flying the orange pennant of their at least the only confrontation is
mission. The Israelis were armed at the chess board. 0

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