FRANK SESNO, Anchor: Given the Arab agreement, Israel today is expected to announce some conciliatory gestures of its own. U.S. officials tell CNN they will include an accelerated schedule to readmit those fundamentalist Palestinians, members of Hamas, deported in December, a declaration against using deportation as a standard tactic in the Occupied Territories in the future.

Well, a short time ago, I discussed the peace process and its progress with Itamar Rabinovich, Israel's ambassador to the United States and head of the delegation in the Israeli-Syrian talks.

Ambassador Rabinovich, thanks very much for joining us.

AMBASSADOR ITAMAR RABINOVICH: My pleasure.

SESNO: Mr. Ambassador, the Palestinians have agreed to return to the peace talks after a five-month hiatus, the talks to resume next week. What kinds of gestures or concessions did Israel have to make to make this possible?

AMB. RABINOVICH: We don't use the term gesture, and it's not so much a matter of someone grunting or agreeing to come. We think that the negotiations should be based on a mutual perception of enlightened self-interest. There was a problem, the problem of the deportees. The problem was resolved basically between the United States and Israel, between our prime minister and your secretary of state, on February 1. That package stays. It was cosmetically adjusted in the intervening weeks, but there were no gestures to be made as such. There was a practical effort to address and resolve the problem of the deportees.

SESNO: Will the deportees be permitted back on an accelerated schedule once the talks get underway?

AMB. RABINOVICH: I think it stands to reason that some of them will. There is a review process. There is an appeals process. By the way, those who have already been allowed to come back have chosen not to exercise their right to do so. So that to a great extent it does seem like a theoretical exercise. But in any event, there will be some acceleration for some of them.

SESNO: Is Israel renouncing the deportation policy per say?

AMB. RABINOVICH: Israel is not renouncing deportation, but on the other hand, it is not a matter of policy for us. That is to say our policy is not to deport, and the prime minister in the past has already used terms such as exceptional and unprecedented to describe the action of December, so that it is not a policy. At the same time, we are not renouncing our right to use deportation under duress, when national security or lives of groups or individuals are threatened by terrorism.

SESNO: And you believe this satisfies the Palestinians' concerns about this policy?

AMB. RABINOVICH: I don't know that it satisfies their concerns, but they will be coming on the basis that I have described.

SESNO: Mr. Ambassador, Hanan Ashrawi, the Palestinian spokeswoman, said that much discussion and anxiety went into the Palestinian decision to return to the talks. And I'm quoting here. She said, 'What went into it is an assessment of the American promises in terms of the Israeli practices in the Occupied Territories. Secretary of State Warren Christopher spoke of the issue of human rights in the territories. What will change in the territories now?

AMB. RABINOVICH: I empathize with some of the problems, or many of the problems and the agony that have gone into the Palestinian decision. I think there is fear in the simplest, purest sense of the term in the Palestinian street. There are radicals who threaten the lives of participants, and I can sympathize, empathize with those members of the delegation who took time to make a decision. Now, the issue of the quality of life in the West Bank and in Gaza has been discussed by the State Department with us, will be discussed between us and the Palestinians next week as we resume. We believe that the solution to the problems is a political one and that, as the negotiations make progress, conditions of life in the West Bank and Gaza could improve.

SESNO: Yasir Arafat was instrumental to bringing the Palestinians back to the table, as we understand it from their meetings, arguing very forcefully that the peace process should be resumed. As far as Israel is concerned, he's a terrorist. What is he? Is he a terrorist or a peacemaker now?

AMB. RABINOVICH: I think the jury is still out on that question. There is a peace process going on, and what happens in the peace process will determine the way in which individuals, organizations, groups are perceived. It has been our feeling and evaluation that in the past few months, Yasir Arafat and his group in Tunis have been more an obstacle than help to the negotiations. And as we resume next week, we would very much like to see him play a constructive role. But as I said, the jury's still out.

SESNO: Do you believe he played a constructive role in the last several days?

AMB. RABINOVICH: In the- at the 11th hour, yes, in a sense that he removed his opposition to the delegation coming. But we have reason to believe, when the delegation as such wanted to come, was here in Washington, made an agreement with your government to come and was prohibited from coming, that individuals in Tunis played a role in their not providing a positive reply earlier on and in not showing up on the 20th. But the bottom line is that they are coming on the 27th, and I think that's very pleasing.

SESNO: What are your expectations for what will happen on the 27th? Where do you hold out the most hope for progress in this very complicated process?

AMB. RABINOVICH: We look particularly at two tracks of negotiations, the Palestinian one and the Syrian one. I think that our instruction and policy are such that they should enable us and the interlocutors to make progress on both tracks, or at least on one of them. But these are our expectations. We still have the other party to take into account. We not only hope that we can move ahead, but we estimate that on the basis of our marching orders, progress can be made.

SESNO: Is it time to reopen the Occupied Territories, which have been sealed?

AMB. RABINOVICH: This is not so much a political question, but a question of practicality. The territories were sealed when a wave of killings, stabbings, assassinations threatened to turn the whole Arab-Israeli conflict, and particularly Palestinian-Israeli relations, into a bloody and violent affair, and the territories were sealed off in order to prevent it. The decision to ease the closing off, or to change it altogether will have to be determined primarily by security considerations.

SESNO: Mr. Ambassador, a final question, very quick, and a final response, very quick, if you could - are you optimistic at this time?

AMB. RABINOVICH: I'm fairly optimistic.

SESNO: A diplomatic response, if ever there was one. Ambassador Rabinovich, thanks very much, appreciate your time. And again, those peace talks resume on the 27th, next week.