Arafat Denounces Israeli Housing Plans But Palestinian Takes Cautious Approach, Mulls His Next Move

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat tersely denounced on Thursday Israel’s decision to build a large Jewish neighborhood in east Jerusalem, but he did not say how he intends to react.

“This is a big breaching to what had been agreed upon, and it is against the United Nations resolutions and also against the American letter of guarantees and against all the agreements that have been signed,” Arafat told reporters in English as he arrived in the West Bank city of Nablus. He then walked off without answering further questions.

Arafat’s brevity and caution suggested he still is assessing the complex political challenge that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has laid before him. He did not call for Palestinian resistance or predict an outbreak of violence over the new housing project.

Members of Arafat’s Fatah movement intervened when some 2,000 youths marched on the hillside site - called “Jebel Abu Ghenaim” in Arabic and “Har Homa” in Hebrew - discouraging them from throwing stones or trying to push through lines of soldiers at the foot of the hill.

But Israeli, Palestinian and Western officials say it is too soon to say Arafat will not make a move. The Palestinian leader, they say, understands Netanyahu’s decision as a power play to strengthen Israel’s grip on all parts of the disputed city. Arafat has good reasons for caution in the short term - including a meeting scheduled next week with President Clinton - but could turn up the heat after that.

Roni Shaked, a military correspondent for the Yedioth Aharonoth newspaper with close links to the Shin Bet internal security service, published Thursday an assessment, citing no sources, that was phrased like a weather report: “Short-term declarations of a crisis using harsh language as part of a plan to prepare the Palestinian public for confrontation; launching a diplomatic attack. In the next two weeks to a month, launching a wide street campaign like the intifada,” the 1987-93 Palestinian uprising against Israeli military occupation.

The Islamic Resistance Movement, known by the Arabic acronym “Hamas” - or at least the harder-line faction of the group headquartered abroad - predicted that Palestinian street opinion will defy any effort by Arafat to soft-pedal the confrontation with Israel. Hamas has claimed responsibility for suicide bombings which have killed scores of Israelis in recent years.

“The Palestinian people feel they have a knife in their hearts and they will want to express their pain with strong demonstrations,” Hamas spokesman Ibrahim Ghosheh, who typically is more militant than spokesmen in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, said in Amman, Jordan.

Israeli officials, who had expected international complaints about the Har Homa project, watched continuing waves of criticism roll in Thursday - from Japan, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, the Arab League and, least surprisingly, Iran. The Israelis said it would take days or weeks to gauge the strength of the backlash, but most suggested Israel can ride it out.

Israeli officials said it is probable that Netanyahu will travel to Cairo to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak next week, although they acknowledged a risk that Egypt will withdraw the invitation.