MIDDLE EAST : From Guerrilla to Policeman: a Symbol of Change in Gaza : Palestinian was on Israel’s ‘most wanted’ list. Now he wants to move ‘from armed struggle to national development.’

JERUSALEM —  With a bit of a swagger, the commander of the Fatah Hawks, one of the main Palestinian guerrilla units in the Gaza Strip, walked into the Israeli military government’s offices in Rafah this week and surrendered after nearly two years on the “most wanted” list.

An hour later, to cheers of several hundred Fatah supporters who had accompanied him, Hisham Joudeh emerged, freed under an amnesty Israel is granting some members of Fatah, the major group within the Palestine Liberation Organization, as part of the peace accord signed with the PLO.

Joudeh, 29, who had led 50 Fatah guerrillas in the Gaza Strip, told Israeli officers that he had not killed anyone. They released him based on his support for the agreement that Israel signed with the PLO in September on Palestinian self-government.

With much celebration, Joudeh was carried back on the shoulders of his friends to his home in a Rafah refugee camp; his comrades in the Fatah Hawks fired a departing salute with their AK-47 rifles. Joudeh is now thought likely to get a senior position in the new Palestinian police force.

His transformation from guerrilla commander to police officer--and Israel’s acquiescence in it--is symbolic of the transition that is taking shape in the Gaza Strip and on the West Bank as Palestinians prepare for autonomy.

Accompanied by three top Fatah officials, Joudeh said he was turning himself in under direct orders from Yasser Arafat, the PLO chairman and leader of Fatah, to promote the transition “from armed struggle to national development.” Four other members of the Fatah Hawks also surrendered Wednesday.

“We are in a situation of peace, the Fatah Hawks have obeyed Arafat’s orders to halt their resistance to the occupation and there is no need for them to be on the run,” Tawfik abu Khousa, a Fatah representative with Joudeh, explained later. “These are the very men we need on the street now to help maintain calm, provide security for our leaders and stabilize the political situation.”

Three Fatah Hawks had surrendered the previous week and were quickly released, Palestinian sources said; a fourth had been caught by Israeli border police and freed the same day. Of the five who turned themselves in Wednesday, two--Joudeh and another senior activist--were freed immediately; three are still being questioned.

“We still have our ‘wanted list,’ of that you can be sure, and we are still looking hard for those guys,” a senior Israeli officer explained. “But we also have an amnesty list now. Clearly, we’re in a different era, and we can afford and should take a different approach. Still, shifting a person we have been looking for, and with reason, from the wanted list to the amnesty list is a tough call.”

The status of Palestinians wanted by the Israeli military is reviewed “case by case” by police and intelligence officers, other military sources said, but some are referred to the “political level” for a decision.

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Khalil Mohammed Zaino, 24, a Fatah Hawks member wanted for incitement, threatening Arab informers and possession of weapons, had unwittingly been the test of Israeli sincerity. Arrested by Israeli border police in Gaza City, Zaino was being interrogated by agents of the Israeli General Security Service, known as Shin Bet, when Abu Khousa arrived with word from the regional military commander that Zaino was covered by the amnesty.

Although released after signing a pledge to refrain from further violence, Zaino did not believe there was an amnesty and went back into hiding for two weeks before finally going home. “For the first time in my life, I feel safe,” Zaino said this week, “but I won’t feel comfortable until the other Fatah Hawks are home too.”