Truce Call Backfires : Arab Mayor Calm in Face of Threats

Mayor Elias Freij pulled an opulent woolen kaftan over his street clothes and assured a visitor that his only worry for the moment was his heater. It had broken down, and the wind that whips across Bethlehem this time of year had chilled his house enough to make him shiver.

One might have suspected that Freij, who styles himself “the world’s best-known mayor,” might have other preoccupations. The Christian Arab mayor’s call for a truce between rebellious Palestinians and the occupying Israeli army had brought criticism and danger almost to his door.

Graffiti on walls just a few blocks from his home scolded “Shame on Freij” and threatened “Death to Traitors.” Yasser Arafat, the leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization, in an apparent reference to Freij, said last week that any Palestinian who calls for an end to the Arab uprising against Israel “exposes himself to the bullets of his own people.”

No Bodyguards

Freij dismissed the threats with what might be called enthusiastic calm. “You don’t see any bodyguards here, do you? You were able to come right in. My house is open, as you see,” he told the visitor Friday. “I’m not in hiding. I’m at home.”

Indeed, there was less security than is usual for the elderly mayor; no one bothered to stop intruders at the gate who, contrary to custom, were able to enter without identifying themselves.

But for all his devil-may-care tranquillity, Freij was careful to point out that, in the wake of Arafat’s words and the threatening scrawls, he had withdrawn his proposal for a truce between Israel and Palestinians, one that would have effectively ended the uprising while some form of negotiation takes place.

“I made my views clear. I stand by every word I say. But if the PLO says it is not time for a truce, then I withdraw my suggestion,” he said.

A cautionary tale lies in Freij’s proposal, the resulting threats and his rapid pullback. For all the talk of moderation within the PLO, old habits die hard. And because diplomatic advances by the PLO, especially with the United States, depend on the organization’s renunciation of terror, the PLO’s words and actions are under unusual scrutiny.

Sharp Reaction by Shultz

Following Arafat’s indirect threat, Secretary of State George P. Shultz responded sharply. In comments to reporters, Shultz reminded Arafat that renunciation of terrorism could not be selective if Washington was expected to maintain contact with the PLO.

“The statement that (Arafat) made, and we were very clear about it, was not a statement ‘I renounce all terrorism except in Israel or the West Bank.’ It was a renunciation of terrorism--period,” Shultz said.

Israeli officials saw Arafat’s comment as proof that the PLO’s new, moderate image is superficial and reminded everyone that Palestinians who in any way cross the PLO are subject to assassination.

While Arafat quickly lashed out at the call for a truce, he has yet to respond to Arab groups that press for greater violence in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip with the aim of expelling Israel.

Since the PLO declared the existence of a vaguely defined, independent Palestinian state prepared to coexist with Israel, at least three groups in the West Bank and Gaza have publicly opposed such a notion: Hamas, an Islamic fundamentalist movement based in Gaza but with growing support on the West Bank; the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a faction of the PLO that opposed Arafat’s proclaimed moderation but that stayed within the organization, and a new, amorphous alliance of pro-Syrian, anti-Arafat groups.

All such groups want a state of Palestine to encompass all territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. So far, these foes of Arafat have expressed themselves only through leaflets and the occasional call for wildcat commercial strikes.

Danger cannot be discounted. On Saturday, a local leader in the West Bank village of Qubeiba, near Ramallah, was stabbed to death by a mob of Muslim fundamentalists, Palestinian sources said. The killers accused the leader, Mahmoud Abdallah Hamoudah, of collaborating with Israeli authorities and advising villagers to carry on normal business on protest strike days.

More than a dozen suspected collaborators have been killed by Palestinians during the 13-month-old uprising.

Freij off-handedly plays down the threat to himself. “So what?” he advised. “There are extremists in any situation.”

With a diplomacy honed during 17 years of survival as a Palestinian politician, Freij added: “The PLO is our leadership. Anyone else must support the PLO.”

But why should the PLO be the only representative for the Palestinians? “The PLO is recognized by foreign governments and the Arab world as our leader. They have freedom of action. Where we live, we are exposed to arrest and expulsion. Only the PLO can act freely on our behalf,” he said.

He arose to prepare himself for one of his customary duties--the reception of Christian patriarchs celebrating the Epiphany, Jesus’s revelation to the nations of the world through the Three Kings.

“You know, it is hard to be in the spotlight. You have to watch every step, every word, jealously,” he said.