Arafat says Israel declares war on Palestinians .
Wafa Amr
RAMALLAH , West Bank 1996-08-28
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat said on Wednesday that Israel had declared war on the Palestinians and called for the first general strike in the West Bank and Gaza in two years .
" What happened concerning continuous violations and crimes from this new Israeli leadership means they are declaring a state of war against the Palestinian people , " Arafat told the Palestinian legislature .
Accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of stupidity , Arafat launched his strongest attack on the right-wing government since its election in May .
The tirade was sparked by Israel 's announcement on Tuesday of plans to expand the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Sefer and its demolishing of a community centre in Arab East Jerusalem .
" Israel has started the war on Jerusalem .
They are idiots to have started the Jerusalem battle , " Arafat said in Arabic . "
There will be no Palestinian state without Jerusalem .
Netanyahu should know he is stupid to have started this battle . "
Arafat called for a general strike " for Jerusalem " on Thursday in all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip .
There has not been a joint shutdown there since May 1994 when Israeli troops began withdrawing under an interim self-rule agreement signed in 1993 .
The strike will have little effect on the Israeli economy while hurting Palestinian merchants in East Jerusalem and Bethlehem who cater to the tourist trade .
Some 25,000 Palestinian labourers are likely to stay away from their jobs , mainly in construction , in Israel .
But Palestinians , once the backbone of the building industry , have been largely replaced by labourers from Romania and China .
" On Friday , all Moslems , including Palestinians in Israel ...
will go to ( Jerusalem 's ) Al-Aqsa mosque and pray .
Jews and Christians who do not pray should accompany them and stand behind them , " Arafat said .
Officials in Netanyahu 's office were not immediately available for comment on Arafat 's remarks .
Israeli travel restrictions , imposed after bombings by Moslem militants in February and March , ban most of the two million Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza from entering Jerusalem .
Netanyahu , who opposes trading occupied land for peace , made Jerusalem a central issue in his election campaign , accusing Labour Prime Minister Shimon Peres of planning to hand control of the Arab eastern part of the city to the Palestinians .
Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and claims both halves of the city as its capital .
The PLO wants East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state .
In his speech to the crowded legislature , Arafat signalled he was not abandoning diplomacy although " alarm bells are ringing " .
He unexpectedly broke off his address to take a telephone call from U.S. Middle East envoy Dennis Ross , who held talks in Paris on Tuesday with Israeli and Egyptian officials .
When Arafat returned to the podium , he said senior PLO negotiator Mahmoud Abbas , better known as Abu Mazen , and Netanyahu aide Dore Gold could meet on Thursday .
He quoted Ross as telling him : " The important thing is the Israelis are prepared to move . "
Arafat said he replied : " is this like their previous promises ? "
" No , they have good intentions , " Arafat quoted Ross as saying .
Palestinians have been pressing Israel to carry out a long-delayed partial troop pullout from the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron agreed by the previous Labour government .
The Israeli government is studying redeployment plans submitted by Defence Minister Yitzhak Mordechai which are likely to demand a wider than agreed army presence in Hebron .