Fatah urges Palestinians to shield Arafat
RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement urged Palestinians Thursday to stay around the clock at his headquarters to protect the Palestinian president from any Israeli attempt to force him into exile.
"It is true the Palestinians do not own tanks but they own the determination to resist this Israeli decision," Ahmed Ghneim, a senior official in Arafat's mainstream political movement, told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
Using Arafat's nom de guerre, he said: "We call on the Palestinian people to be present at Abu Ammar's compound day and night so the (Israeli) occupiers realize that the people will defend their leadership."
Tens of thousands of Palestinians took to the streets of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in defiant rallies after Israel's cabinet decided in principle to expel Arafat as an obstacle to peace, a charge he denies.
Arafat vowed to crowds outside his presidential offices he would stay put come what may.
About 200 people were at Arafat's headquarters late in the evening, singing and waving posters of the president and Palestinian flags. Some said they would sleep there.
Arafat was receiving and shaking hands with many of the supporters.
