PALESTINIANS, ISRAELIS NEAR AGREEMENT : HEBRON ACCORD COULD BE STRUCK IN TALKS TODAY.

Byline: Serge Schmemann The New York Times

Spurred on by King Hussein of Jordan and the threatened departure of the American mediator, the Palestinians and Israelis on Sunday surmounted the final obstacle to a Hebron agreement, the timetable for Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank.

Officials said that barring yet another last-minute snag, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, would conclude the agreement today.

Though officials on all sides seemed satisfied that the long and arduous negotiations were finally over, all were cautious, evidently mindful of the many times over the last three months when promises of imminent agreement collapsed.

``There is still work to be done, but I think we've made an important, a very important step forward,'' Netanyahu said.

The apparent agreement came hours before Dennis Ross, the American mediator who has spent the last four weeks shuttling between the two sides, intended to quit his efforts and leave Israel. He announced over the weekend that he had exhausted his possibilities and would return to Washington unless there was a last-minute change. But as Hussein's efforts seemed to bear fruit on Sunday, he said he would stay.

Officials said the probable schedule for Monday would be a morning session of the two negotiating teams to complete the agreement, and then if that went well, Netanyahu and Arafat would meet, probably on the border of Gaza.

The agreements would then be initialed by the chief negotiators, Dan Shomron for Israel and Saeb Erekat for the Palestinians.

The fact that Netanyahu and Arafat were not expected to initial the agreement evidently reflected the resentment raised by the long, bitter talks.

Once the agreement is concluded, Netanyahu has pledged to present it to his Cabinet and Parliament for approval. Despite criticism from some Cabinet ministers, Israeli officials say they believe that the agreement will pass. After that, the actual transfer of authority in Hebron is expected to be quick.

The breakthrough apparently came when Hussein flew to Gaza on Sunday afternoon and prevailed on Arafat to accept an American compromise under which further Israeli withdrawals from the West Bank would be delayed by about a year, to mid-1998.

In recent weeks, as arrangements for the Israeli withdrawal from Hebron were settled, the dates for additional withdrawals emerged as the last obstacle to agreement.

Arafat demanded an American guarantee that Israel would abide by the deadlines for three additional redeployments as specified in existing agreements, which set next September as the deadline for completing them. Netanyahu refused to set a final date.

The dispute became a test of wills over the fundamentals of the Israeli-Palestinian political search for peace that began with the signing of a ``declaration of principles'' at the White House in 1993.

Officials said Arafat's demand reflected his strong suspicion that once the Hebron issue was resolved, Netanyahu and his coalition of nationalist and religious conservatives would try to elude remaining obligations under existing agreements, or would try to use further withdrawals as a bargaining lever in ``final status'' talks on Jerusalem, Jewish settlements and borders.

The talks were complicated by leaks from Netanyahu's lieutenants that appeared to confirm the Palestinian fears. At the same time, several members of Netanyahu's coalition threatened that they would oppose the agreement if it set dates for further withdrawals.

In fact, the existing agreements set deadlines but leave the actual territory to be ceded to the discretion of the Israelis, so the dispute was less over actual territory than over a commitment to the framework of the agreements.

As both sides dug in, the possibility grew that the negotiations, which began in October as an urgent response to an outbreak of Palestinian rioting, could enter a long stall and threaten the entire political process. That, in turn, raised fears that stagnation could lead to new eruptions of violence of the sort that broke out in September over the opening of an Israeli tunnel in Jerusalem.

At the same time, officials who have taken part in previous negotiations were aware that Arafat has never settled without an 11th-hour effort to wrest another concession.

Ross' threat to leave and Hussein's personal intervention, which was reportedly requested by the Americans, seemed intended to persuade Arafat that the time was up. The endgame began Saturday when Arafat and Ross flew separately to Cairo to talk to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, who was thought to be a major force behind Arafat's stubbornness.

Hussein's visit to Gaza, his first, not only served to add weight to the American proposals, but also apparently offered Arafat a way to agree without appearing to back down before the Americans and Israelis. By all accounts, Netanyahu was already prepared to accept the mid-1998 date.

From Gaza, the king flew Sunday night to Tel Aviv, where he met with Netanyahu and Ross. After about an hour, all three came out to announce the outcome to reporters.

``I believe, sir, we are on the verge of the completion of a long road,'' the king said, ``and as far as I am concerned, I leave here confident everything will move in the right direction. And I hope this will be a fresh beginning to continue work.''