At the same time, Islamic leaders, burying the 14th victim of factional fighting, branded the rally a provocation likely to hurt the rough truce worked out by mediators.
Arafat is seeking broader public backing following bloody clashes Friday outside a Gaza City mosque between his police and Islamic activists opposed to negotiating with Israel."We support democracy, but we need security and stability to build our state," Arafat told roaring supporters in a downtown Gaza City square.
"We will not allow anybody to sow disorder and we will not allow anyone to destroy what we have built," he said.
About 200 supporters of the Islamic Resistance Movement, or Hamas, marched in the funeral procession of the 14th victim of the clashes, Ata Kanan, 25, who died Monday of gunshot wounds in the head.
"Arafat is a killer. Instead of shooting at Israelis, he is shooting at our sons," his father Mohammed, 58, said, tears streaming down his face as the body was lowered into a grave next to 10 of the other 13 victims.
At the PLO rally, Arafat, clearly elated by a crowd larger than the one that materialized for his arrival five months ago, encouraged supporters to tear down a fence and come within feet of the stage.
Before his speech, members of the Fatah Hawks, the underground armed band that had fought the Israeli occupation, circulated in the crowd wearing masks and firing their weapons in the air. Police occasionally joined in the firing.
Arafat's support among Fatah loyalists had been shaky in the Gaza Strip because he ignored street fighters when assigning key jobs in the autonomy government. Resurrecting them appeared to be an attempt to both shore up his own flank and to distance the ordinary police from the fight with the furtive Izzedine Al-Qassam underground of Hamas.
Izzedine said in a leaflet distributed in Gaza that it would attack self-rule officials and start a civil war unless those responsible for bloodshed Friday were tried and executed. PLO police, untrained in riot control, opened fire on stone-throwers outside the Palestine Mosque, an Islamic militant center in the incident Friday. Aside from those deaths, further rioting left 150 wounded.
In talks between the PLO and militants in the wake of the weekend's violence, Israeli Arab mediators attempted to find a formula to prevent future bloodshed that included compensation to the families of the dead and wounded.
The PLO said the agreement was incomplete. Hamas leaders did not sign an agreement because they want Arafat to publicly accept responsibility for the bloodshed until an investigation determines blame.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.