Palestinians want action not words from Arafat
By Nejla Sammakia
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AFP): Palestinians are hoping PLO chief Yasser Arafat is returning to the Gaza Strip for good with concrete plans to put into action rather than empty promises.
He arrived in Cairo late Monday from Tunis heading for the autonomous Strip, but there was little sign here of the euphoria which prevailed just 10 days ago when tens of thousands turned out to welcome him home after a 27-year exile.
Palestinian sources said he would leave early Tuesday for Al- Arish, and then enter Gaza via the Rafah border crossing.
Palestinian sources in Gaza said he would arrive around midday in Gaza.
Arafat is to take up his seat as head of the Palestinian Authority to run affairs in the new self-rule areas of Gaza and the West Bank town of Jericho after bidding farewell to Tunis where he lived for 12 years.
But only old banners and flags left over from his visit on July 1 fluttered in Gaza on Monday as Arafat's security and police forces met in the evening to prepare for his second arrival.
From staunch supporters of the PLO chief to his critics and opponents, Palestinians here say they love peace, but would prefer if with it came jobs and a better future.
"I love the president (Arafat)," said Nasr Hassan, a carpenter who is now unemployed.
"But what good will it do me if I love him and he can't feed me. I want to love him, and eat and feed my family."
Arafat acknowledged he faced an uphill task before he left Tunis, saying a very busy schedule awaited him in Gaza.
He said the situation in Gaza is "close to famine, the infrastructure totally destroyed and unemployment hitting 58 percent of the population."
Hassan is an example of many in Gaza. He has been out of a job for more than a year, and since then has been working at the Gaza telephone exchange for a quarter the regular salary.
He and 80 others like him in the same department have been paid by Israel until last month. As of July, the Palestinian Authority will take over payments, he said.
While Hassan is a supporter of Arafat's mainstream Fatah faction and lives in a relatively comfortable neighborhood of Gaza City, others in the refugee camp of Al-Shatti had mixed feelings about Arafat's return.
"We were joyful the first time he came," said Atta Zaki, 48, a store keeper.
"But now, as he is back to stay his return is becoming a regular, normal thing.
"We have problems in this camp, we need to pull down everything and start from scratch," Zaki said, pointing to squalid rows of cramped houses and garbage-strewn streets around him.
"Can he (Arafat) do all this alone? We are not blaming him, but why did he sign an agreement without first getting the money," said Zaki, who is a member of the opposition Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP).
Arafat has accused Western donors of not producing the promised funds. So far only US$ 42 million out of some $ 720 million pledged for this year have been put up.
"The last time he came, did anything change?" asked another DFLP follower who refused to be identified.
"I am not against the person, but against his policies."