Rabin Accuses Israeli Rightists of Scare Tactics : Mideast: Protests against Arafat’s return continue in Jerusalem. Prime minister calls claims he will turn city over to Palestinians an ‘outrage.’

As hundreds of angry Jews clashed with police outside his office Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin defended the Mideast peace accord and accused his opponents of inciting violence with scare stories of a Palestinian-controlled Jerusalem.

“I’ll put it simply: It’s a political outrage,” Rabin told a caucus meeting of his Labor Party. “There is no disagreement regarding the unity of Jerusalem, our sovereignty over it or its continuation as the capital of Israel.”

Rabin’s remarks were part of a government counteroffensive against rightist leaders who oppose the peace agreement and have used Friday’s return of Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat, after 27 years in exile, to rally tens of thousands to their cause.

Only hours before, one of the biggest anti-government rallies in Jerusalem’s modern history had turned ugly as thousands of Jews took to the streets late Saturday, some throwing rocks at Arab-owned shops, burning cars and defying riot police.

Then, on Sunday, hundreds of shouting, flag-waving demonstrators gathered outside Rabin’s office building in an attempt to prevent government ministers from attending the regular weekly Cabinet meeting. The government assigned bodyguards to the ministers, who entered and left the building by a side entrance.

The protesters taunted riot police from a makeshift “tent city,” which government opponents set up opposite Rabin’s office a month ago. Some blew whistles and banged cooking pans, hoping to be heard inside the Cabinet meeting.

Police said 65 demonstrators were arrested and four were slightly injured. No charges were filed, and most of the protesters were later released, with some rejoining the protest.

In their Cabinet meeting, Rabin and his ministers lashed out at the protesters and right-wing leaders, accusing them of inciting violence with allegations that the government plans to turn Jerusalem over to the Palestinians. Rabin said the protests Saturday and Sunday, and the property damage that resulted, had “gone beyond the bounds of legitimate political dissent.”

Some government ministers accused the right wing of trying to spark a “Jewish intifada ,” a reference to the militant Palestinian uprising that began in December, 1987, and brought the Israeli government into negotiations on Palestinian self-government for the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.

“It’s a rebellion,” said Shulamit Aloni, the communications minister. She added that the demonstrators “are presenting a legitimate government as traitors.”

But the government received some good news Sunday from an opinion poll by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar Ilan University. The poll indicated that 60% of Israelis support continued dialogue with the PLO. More than half, however, still say they do not believe that agreements with the Palestinians or the Syrians will solve the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Ephraim Inbar, director of the center, said the results indicate the number of Israelis willing to make a deal for Palestinian autonomy in exchange for peace is growing. “The Israeli public is exhausted by the conflict, and by the lack of an opposition which presents a clear alternative,” he said.

In fact, there is no consensus on an alternative solution to Israel’s dilemma among Jewish Israelis who oppose the peace accord. Some militants say they want to drive all Arabs out of Israel and its occupied territories. Other, more moderate opponents acknowledge that is impossible. But they admit they have no alternatives.

Nahum Barnea, a columnist for Yediot Aharonot, the country’s largest newspaper, wrote Sunday that the protests are aimed more at Rabin than Arafat.

“The animosity toward Rabin is getting close to the hatred that the left felt toward (former Defense Minister) Ariel Sharon,” Barnea wrote. “In their minds, Rabin has insulted and humiliated them. The battle is over belief, property and honor.”

Until Arafat’s return, the right wing had been plagued by months of infighting. But the PLO chairman’s arrival in Gaza focused attention on several still-undecided parts of the peace deal, which have left many Jews unsettled.

“The public is not stupid,” said Zeev (Benny) Begin, a prominent member of the opposition Likud Party. “The public knows the prime minister has been lying to the Israeli people. He’s been an expert at deception on the matter of Jerusalem. We will defend Jerusalem--not against Arafat, but against Rabin.”

Although Israel has handed Gaza and Jericho over to Palestinian rule, only future negotiations will determine what other territories will become part of the deal. Many of the more than 100,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza are worried about what will happen to them.

Government opponents have used that uncertainty to draw broader public support.

As Haaretz, a highly respected Hebrew daily newspaper, put it Sunday, “If the government intends to continue with the same determination in the peace process, it must come out publicly and tell the Jewish residents of the territories what their future will be.

“The government doesn’t have to be impressed by the demonstrations, but it does have to give real answers,” the newspaper said.