Arafat says Israel declares war on Palestinians .  Wafa Amr  RAMALLAH , West Bank 1996-08-28  Palestinian President [START_ENT] Yasser Arafat [END_ENT] said on Wednesday that Israel had declared war on the Palestinians and called for the first general strike in the West Bank and Gaza in two years .  " What happened concerning continuous violations and crimes from this new Israeli leadership means they are declaring a state of war against the Palestinian people , " Arafat told the Palestinian legislature .  Accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of stupidity , Arafat launched his strongest attack on the right-wing government since its election in May .  The tirade was sparked by Israel 's announcement on Tuesday of plans to expand the Jewish settlement of Kiryat Sefer and its demolishing of a community centre in Arab East Jerusalem .  " Israel has started the war on Jerusalem .  They are idiots to have started the Jerusalem battle , " Arafat said in Arabic . "  There will be no Palestinian state without Jerusalem .  Netanyahu should know he is stupid to have started this battle . "  Arafat called for a general strike " for Jerusalem " on Thursday in all of the West Bank and Gaza Strip .  There has not been a joint shutdown there since May 1994 when Israeli troops began withdrawing under an interim self-rule agreement signed in 1993 .  The strike will have little effect on the Israeli economy while hurting Palestinian merchants in East Jerusalem and Bethlehem who cater to the tourist trade .  Some 25,000 Palestinian labourers are likely to stay away from their jobs , mainly in construction , in Israel .  But Palestinians , once the backbone of the building industry , have been largely replaced by labourers from Romania and China .  " On Friday , all Moslems , including Palestinians in Israel ...  will go to ( Jerusalem 's ) Al-Aqsa mosque and pray .  Jews and Christians who do not pray should accompany them and stand behind them , " Arafat said .  Officials in Netanyahu 's office were not immediately available for comment on Arafat 's remarks .  Israeli travel restrictions , imposed after bombings by Moslem militants in February and March , ban most of the two million Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza from entering Jerusalem .  Netanyahu , who opposes trading occupied land for peace , made Jerusalem a central issue in his election campaign , accusing Labour Prime Minister Shimon Peres of planning to hand control of the Arab eastern part of the city to the Palestinians .  Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war and claims both halves of the city as its capital .  The PLO wants East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state .  In his speech to the crowded legislature , Arafat signalled he was not abandoning diplomacy although " alarm bells are ringing " .  He unexpectedly broke off his address to take a telephone call from U.S. Middle East envoy Dennis Ross , who held talks in Paris on Tuesday with Israeli and Egyptian officials .  When Arafat returned to the podium , he said senior PLO negotiator Mahmoud Abbas , better known as Abu Mazen , and Netanyahu aide Dore Gold could meet on Thursday .  He quoted Ross as telling him : " The important thing is the Israelis are prepared to move . "  Arafat said he replied : " is this like their previous promises ? "  " No , they have good intentions , " Arafat quoted Ross as saying .  Palestinians have been pressing Israel to carry out a long-delayed partial troop pullout from the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron agreed by the previous Labour government .  The Israeli government is studying redeployment plans submitted by Defence Minister Yitzhak Mordechai which are likely to demand a wider than agreed army presence in Hebron .
Yasser Arafat