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JENIN, West Bank -- Israel began fulfilling slain Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's peace legacy Monday, pulling troops out of the West Bank city of Jenin to end 28 years of occupation.
Palestinians danced and shouted "God is Great" at dawn when the last 15 Israeli jeeps pulled out of military headquarters under PLO escort. Palestinians rushed in. Soldiers waved goodbye as the jeeps left for Israel.
"Without a doubt this day crowns the work of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who lost his life working for peace," Palestinian police chief Nasr Yousef said after Israeli and PLO officers shook hands to complete the handover.
It was the first transfer of a West Bank city since Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat signed a peace deal in Washington on Sept. 28 to expand Palestinian self-rule launched last year beyond the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
Arafat, returning to Gaza from Jericho, praised acting Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres for continuing to implement the self-rule deal.
"This is the first step, the very important step to implement what we had agreed upon and we have to thank Mr. Peres for fulfilling his promises to implement what we agreed upon," Arafat said.
A Jewish gunman opposed to the handover assassinated Rabin at a peace rally in Tel Aviv on Nov. 4.
At a memorial Sunday night attended by 250,000 Israelis in Tel Aviv, Rabin's widow Leah urged Israelis to fulfill her husband's legacy and forge ahead with peace moves.
Jenin's 40,000 residents rejoiced at the departure of the Israeli army which had occupied the area since capturing it along with the rest of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the 1967 Middle East War. Two million Arabs live in the territories.
Men fired their guns in the air. Palestinian flags and posters of Arafat were everywhere. Hundreds of people took to the streets, some on horseback. Residents joined hands and danced in the courtyard of the military headquarters.
About 350 Palestinian policemen arrived from the West Bank self-ruled town of Jericho before dawn to take charge of Jenin in the north of the West Bank. They deployed throughout the city. Another 200 joined them later in the day.
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