Right-Wing Jews Rally to Protest Hated Arafat’s Return : Israel: They spill into streets of Jerusalem and vow to prevent PLO leader’s ever setting foot in the holy city.

Tens of thousands of right-wing Jews flooded the streets of this city late Saturday and early today, clashing with police to protest the government-sanctioned return of Yasser Arafat and vowing to prevent the PLO chairman from ever setting foot in this holy city.

The protesters, egged on by fiery speakers at a two-hour rally at Zion Square, launched a march after midnight along streets bordering Palestinian East Jerusalem and the Old City. Bands of young Israeli stone-throwers were broken up by riot police with batons, and four police officers were injured.

Several hundred protesters were stopped by police at Damascus Gate, which leads to the Muslim quarter of the Old City, but they left after an agreement with authorities. The Old City was sealed off by hundreds of police, and a few demonstrators who managed to get inside were stopped as they tried to break into the Temple Mount, one of Islam’s holiest sites.

The protest was the first large-scale attempt by the right wing to regroup after months of disarray. Right-wing leaders used Arafat’s return to the Gaza Strip on Friday--and fears of his designs on Jerusalem--to rally opposition to the peace accord signed by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and the Palestine Liberation Organization leader.

About 50,000 people turned up for the initial rally, suggesting significant, though not overwhelming, opposition to the accord that has so far returned the Gaza Strip and Jericho to Palestinian rule. Organizers had said they hoped to attract 100,000 people.

The rally began in darkness after the end of the Sabbath, with hundreds of police watching quietly from rooftops and side streets. It brought together a variety of Israelis, from gray-haired Orthodox Jews in black coats to youths in T-shirts and couples pushing their dozing children in strollers.

“We’re here because we have just one Jerusalem and we will protect it,” declared Benjamin Netanyahu, chairman of the rightist Likud Party, to cheers from the crowd. Arafat, Netanyahu added, “belongs in a court of law for war criminals, not in Israel.”

Netanyahu drew loud applause when he shook hands with Ariel Sharon, the former defense minister, suggesting a temporary end to an enmity that has divided the right.

“We’re all unified in this struggle for Jerusalem,” Sharon said.

As the demonstration broke up, thousands began their march through the streets toward Rabin’s house. Early today, the authorities said one group of protesters made it to a square outside the prime minister’s house and refused to leave.

Police said rocks were thrown at the U.S. Consulate, though no significant damage was reported. At a Palestinian-owned bakery in East Jerusalem, workers cowered inside as protesters pummeled the shop with stones.

Later, two of the bakery workers emerged to plead with the attackers. “Why are you throwing stones? We’re supposed to have peace now,” one said.

A protester responded, “How can we have peace when our people are being murdered in their beds?”

“We should throw all of you into the sea!” the other bakery worker shouted.

Retorted the rock thrower, “No, we’ll throw you into the sea.”

Although police had to break up several groups of stone-throwing youths, no serious incidents of violence were reported and, despite the tense atmosphere, the clashes appeared relatively mild.

“We’re just doing this nonsense to get some attention,” said one protester, Yehoshua Reinfeld, 17, who joined the group that confronted nearly 100 riot police at the Damascus Gate to the Old City. “Maybe this way, people will understand that this is our homeland.”

“The government is leading us to destruction,” said Haim Ben-Tzimchon, a 48-year-old grocery store worker who made the 45-minute drive to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv for the rally. “It is just pursuing a policy of concessions, concessions that will cost us not only Gaza and Jericho but also Jerusalem. This is surrender, not peace.”

Jerusalem, now controlled by Israel, is considered a holy city by Jews, Muslims and Christians. Arafat has said he will soon return to Jerusalem to pray on the Temple Mount in the Old City, though his aides say that trip will probably not occur until later.

Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said the government does not oppose a visit to Jerusalem by Arafat. “We can’t prevent anyone who wants to come and pray in Jerusalem from coming and praying,” Peres said. “Even after he prays in Jerusalem, Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, united, strong.”

“All of this hysteria” from the right, he said, “is out of place.”

Arafat, speaking in Gaza on Saturday, said, “We respect the Jewish holy sites in Jerusalem, and we expect them (Israelis) to respect our sensitivities as well.”

But the thought of Arafat, who led a long guerrilla war against Israel, visiting Jerusalem has helped galvanize the right, bringing together divided parties that have been suffering from a lack of new ideas since the peace accord was signed last fall.

About 10,000 Jews turned up for Saturday afternoon prayers at the Western Wall, Judaism’s most sacred site, in a peaceful show of opposition to the peace plan and to Arafat visiting Jerusalem.

Although right-wing leaders say they want to avoid confrontations with the police, they insist they are determined to use rallies and civil disobedience, by blocking roads, for example, to press their demands.

“What is happening in my country at the moment is a horror story and we have no other options left,” said Frieda Ross, 42. She said she showed up at the rally Saturday night because “how else are we to show our dissatisfaction?”

“We are not against peace,” she added. “I don’t believe killing Arafat is the answer. But I don’t want him here. I don’t begrudge the Palestinians anything. But this is the home of the Jews.”