PLO and Israel 'agree draft accord'

PLO and Israeli negotiators have hammered out a draft accord for an armed presence to protect Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip which could revive stalled peace talks, PLO and diplomatic sources said yesterday, AP reports from Tunis. If ratified by the Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, the accord would meet a key PLO demand for returning to negotiations halted after the massacre of Muslim worshipers by a Jewish settler in the West Bank town of Hebron.