Arafat Welcomes Cease-Fire, But...

Yasser Arafat said Tuesday he welcomes a U.S.-backed call for an immediate cease-fire with Israel, but stopped short of committing to steps the Palestinians would be required to take ahead of such a truce.

In a speech marking the anniversary of the 1965 founding of his Fatah group, Arafat also suggested that growing tensions over Iraq could make the Palestinians more vulnerable to Israeli military offensives.

"The ghost of war which is hovering over the Middle East today represents a good chance for the Israeli government and its occupation forces to continue its destructive war against our Palestinian people," Arafat said.

In Gaza City, tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered in the main square to mark the anniversary, with participants chanting "Arafat, Arafat" as his speech was played over loudspeakers. It was one of the largest gatherings since Arafat returned from exile in 1994 as part of interim peace agreements.

CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger reports they were celebrating the anniversary of the founding of Arafat's Fatah movement in 1965. Many of the demonstrators carried flags and pictures of Arafat.

The Palestinian leader spoke to legislators and supporters at his sandbagged compound in the town of Ramallah to which he has been confined for a year by Israel. Israel accuses him of doing nothing to rein in Palestinian militias and even encouraging bombing and shooting attacks on Israelis. President Bush has said the Palestinians must replace their leader if they want to establish a state.

However, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that Arafat must not be sidelined. "I know the Israeli position...but you also know the position of the vast majority of the international community that until there is a new leader, since he is the only elected leader, we have to deal with him," Annan told Israel Army Radio in a telephone interview from his New York office.

The United Nations — along with the United States, the European Union and Russia — has been formulating a "road map" to Mideast peace.

Meanwhile, a leading Israel Arab parliamentarian has been disqualified from the upcoming Israeli elections on Jan. 28, reports Berger.

Israel's Election Commission said Israeli Arab Knesset member Ahmed Tibi could not run for reelection on grounds that he supports terrorism. Tibi has infuriated many Jewish Israelis with statements supporting the Palestinian uprising and visits to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Tibi said he supports non-violent Palestinian resistance, and Israel is trying to silence the Arab minority in the Jewish state.

In the first stage of the three-phase plan by the so-called Quartet, the Palestinians must "undertake an unconditional cessation of violence...accompanied by supportive measures undertaken by Israel," the latest draft says.

Arafat said Tuesday he welcomes "the call by the Quartet for an immediate cease-fire between the two sides and in all areas." However, the Palestinian leader did not refer to steps the Palestinians would have to take, including declaring an unequivocal end to violence and arresting suspected militants.

In the first phase of the plan, Israel would have to withdraw from Palestinian areas it reoccupied since the outbreak of fighting 27 months ago. Israeli troops currently control most population centers in the West Bank.

Arafat reiterated Tuesday that "we are against all acts of violence against Israeli and Palestinian civilians," but stopped short of urging Palestinian militias to halt such attacks. A militia linked to Fatah, the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, has carried out scores of attacks, mainly shootings of Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza.

Raanan Gissin, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, dismissed Arafat's speech as more deception. "Arafat has constructed throughout the years an empire of terror and a kingdom of lies," Gissin said. "He promised us the peace of the brave and gave us the peace of the grave."

Arafat insisted that his hand remained stretched out in peace, and that Palestinians are ready to live in a state alongside Israel.

However, the Palestinian Authority and Fatah continue to support attacks on Israelis in the West Bank and Gaza, arguing that Jewish settlers are not civilians.

Ahmed Hiles, the Fatah leader in Gaza, told reporters at Tuesday's rally that "we hold the rifle in one hand and the olive branch in the other."