Arafat Aide Defies Crackdown Demand Threatens ‘Blood In The Streets’ If Jerusalem Building Continues

One of Yasser Arafat’s top ministers said Friday that the Palestinian Authority will not crack down on Islamic militants, defying pressure from Israel and the United States, and instead will halt violence through dialogue.

But Imad Falouji, Arafat’s chief liaison with the Islamic movement, said in an interview with The Miami Herald that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would face a campaign of terror if he did not halt construction on a disputed hilltop in southeast Jerusalem.

The late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, Falouji said, “was more stubborn than Netanyahu. At the end, Rabin understood the situation after paying a very steep price (in suicide bomb attacks). After Netanyahu sees blood in the streets, he will understand, too. … Netanyahu is a beginner in politics. He hasn’t gotten any big hit yet. When he gets one of those hits, he will understand.”

Falouji’s talk of more suicide bombs comes just before Netanyahu meets with President Clinton in Washington to seek ways to restart the frozen peace process.

On Friday, Netanyahu told his Cabinet that the U.S. peace initiative is based on his proposal to speed up talks for a permanent solution that involves the future of Jerusalem, a Palestinian state, Palestinian refugees and Jewish settlements. Netanyahu leaves Israel Sunday for a two-day U.S. visit.

Netanyahu is demanding a crackdown on terror as a precondition for restarting the political talks. President Clinton has called on Arafat to show “zero tolerance” for any terror activity.

Falouji’s comments were among the most threatening of any Palestinian Authority leader of a violent response to continued building on a Jerusalem hilltop.

“This is the kind of language we never heard before,” said David BarIllan, Netanyahu’s communications director, after being told of Falouji’s remarks late Friday.

Bar-Illan cautioned that Falouji’s thoughts may not reflect the thinking of Arafat.

“They have played the good cop-bad cop game before,” he said.