Arafat Promises to Rebuild Gaza, Create Jobs

GAZA CITY -- Fighting his image as an isolated, autocratic leader, Yasser Arafat sought to move closer to his people by talking of Palestinian unity and promising that jobs would be created as they begin rebuilding decayed self-rule lands. But behind all the pomp to reinforce Arafat's image as a statesman who delivers, concerns about rival Moslem factions, a nearly lifeless economy and hawkish Israelis unwilling to accept compromise kept popping to the surface. A top Palestinian official said Monday that Arafat plans to return for good to Palestinian-run territory after talks with Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in Paris. As he toured the overcrowded towns of the southern Gaza Strip and received a stream of visitors Sunday, Arafat spoke in the tone of an engaging, proud father. Unlike the lukewarm reception they gave him initially, when Arafat kept his distance from the public, thousands of cheering Palestinians came out Sunday to catch a glimpse of him as his motorcade made its way through Gaza's narrow, bumpy streets. The Palestinian leader, apparently moved by the welcome, asked his guards not to push away stampeding crowds. To rally the Palestinians behind the peace treaty, Arafat promised jobs were part of the rebuilding package. "As it was in the uprising that required your blood, we need your arms now, all of you, all of you," Arafat told a cheering crowd at the border town of Rafah. Some visiting Israeli-Arab members of parliament repeatedly referred to the Palestinians inside Israel and those in the West Bank and Gaza as one people, sure to touch off alarm among Israelis who worry that Arafat will try to extend his influence over the 1 million Arabs with Israeli citizenship. On Sunday, several thousand right-wing Israelis rampaged through Arab east Jerusalem, vandalizing property and stoning a U.S. Consulate building to denounce Arafat's trip. They later clashed with police outside Rabin's office. Police on horseback pushed back demonstrators trying to storm the parliament. In all, nine Israelis were injured and 54 arrested, police said. Jerusalem is the most sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Palestinians consider the Arab sector the capital of a future independent state. Israel says it will never divide the city. On Sunday, Planning Minister Nabil Shaath said Arafat had postponed his departure for Jericho, the seat of the self-rule authority in the West Bank, until Tuesday. He said Egypt would provide helicopters for the transit and the pilots wanted to survey the landing sites. Arafat is believed to be staying an extra day and traveling farther afield to Khan Yunis and Rafah to consolidate his support in Gaza.Shaath said Arafat plans to return to Gaza on Saturday after meeting with Rabin in Paris. "He will be back here for good," he said. "I mean this is it. He considers going to Paris now a visit from his base."But in Gaza City, there were rumbles of discontent over the security measures Arafat's bodyguards are taking every time he makes a trip, including blocking off main arteries. One disgruntled Gazan trying to get to work muttered that Israeli officials who visited the Strip during the uprising did not take such stringent security measures. To stress the importance of rebuilding the economy, Arafat visited a citrus-juice bottling plant handed over by the UN Development Fund and the Italian government. After peeling a black and white checked kaffiyah -- similar to the one he wears on his head -- from the plaque bearing his name, Arafat said developing Gaza was his first priority. Support for the peace treaty among Gaza's 750,000 residents is hinged on escaping the rank poverty of their shanty towns. Speaking to the Israeli-Arabs legislators, Arafat questioned why Israel was refusing to transfer hundreds of millions of dollars in accrued benefits from Arab workers to the PLO. "Why do they not give us this? Because there is an attempt to destroy the peace," he said. Since 1967, Palestinian laborers working in Israel were obligated to make pension contributions to a labor union but never received the benefits. But there was some good economic news for Palestinians. Israel's Finance Minister Avraham Shochat promised that Israel would transfer around $1 million in already paid income and customs taxes. "We will keep the agreement to the last penny," he said.