Diplomatic signing ceremonies are supposed to be formal affairs, choreographed to the dotted i and not a handshake out of place. So the 2,500 guests in Cairo's International Conference Center, gathered to see Israel and the P.L.O. seal an agreement to begin Palestinian self-rule, were astonished by the drama unfolding among the dignitaries onstage. For 35 minutes, while the principals came and went from the podium, their attention was all too plainly elsewhere. Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres remonstrated with Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, Prime Minister ^ Yitzhak Rabin with Peres, Arafat with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Russian Foreign...
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