RAMALLAH, 3 August 2004 — Thousands gathered at the West Bank headquarters of Yasser Arafat yesterday in a show of support for the Palestinian president, witnesses said. The pro-Arafat demonstration was meant to counter street protests and violence aimed at the Palestinian Authority demanding reform, which for two weeks had dominated the Gaza Strip, but which began spilling over to the West Bank over the weekend.

In three separate incidents in the night from Friday to Saturday, armed militants torched the governorate and the PA general intelligence offices in the northern West Bank city of Jenin, while masked gunmen briefly kidnapped three foreign nationals in Nablus. The militants in Jenin were dissatisfied with Arafat’s appointment of a new governor.

“We will remain steadfast despite all the conspiracies against us,” Arafat told the crowd, which held up signs calling him the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people. “With our souls, with our blood we will sacrifice for Palestine” and “We are going to Jerusalem, martyrs in the millions,” Arafat chanted, followed by the masses.

“Arafat is the leader of the Palestinian people and we should all stand behind him,” Palestinian Premier Ahmed Qorei said standing on the stairs next to the president. Qorei spoke less than a week after ending a 10-day dispute with Arafat by withdrawing his resignation. Qorei had demanded greater powers for the premiership and the Palestinian security forces in order to be better able to combat the chaos in the Palestinian territories.

Qorei also said that he would not tolerate any challenges to the Palestinian security forces. “We will not allow anyone, whoever they are, to attack our security forces,” he told reporters after chairing his first Cabinet meeting since he reversed his decision to quit over the spiraling security chaos in the Palestinian territories.

Qorei sought to play down the differences with Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, calling it a “part of Fatah” and insisting that the government took responsibility for their security. The premier said he had been briefed by the newly appointed police commander for the West Bank, Ala Hosni, who has named new senior officers for the towns of Ramallah, Bethlehem and Tulkarm.

“The government has accepted and welcomed these changes and wants to work with the institutions involved to make them a success.”

In another development, Israeli Public Security Minister Tzahi Hanegbi said he was hoping to set up extra surveillance equipment in Jerusalem’s disputed mosque compound in a bid to prevent an attack by Jewish extremists.

Hanegbi, who has previously warned that extremist groups could try and attack the compound in a bid to disrupt the planned pullout of the Gaza Strip, said that he did not have the funds to swamp the area with security forces.

“On the other hand, I hope to obtain the funds to provide electronic surveillance in the form of cameras in areas where it is not possible to deploy our people,” he told Israeli public radio.

Hanegbi warned late last month of a high risk of an attack against Islamic holy places on the compound, which is known as Al-Haram Al-Sharif to Muslims.

The compound shelters the Dome of the Rock (Omar Mosque) and Al-Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam, as well as the Western Wall, the holiest site for Jews. The minister said that the threat was only posed by a tiny minority but that it was a real cause for concern.

“A fraction of the population have demonstrated in recent months more and more frustration with the advance of the political process which they regard as an apocalyptic scenario,” he said. “We have already seen in the past that these kind of feelings lead to action against the Temple Mount.”

The internal security service Shin Beth managed to foil a bomb plot at the compound in the early 1980s by extremists opposed to the peace deal with Egypt. Yehuda Etzion, one of the organizers of that plot, recently called for “the Temple Mount to be cleansed of the presence of Muslims.”

In another development, the formation of a new ruling coalition in Israel inched closer yesterday when the leader of the secular Shinui party said he would be prepared to sit in government with an ultra-Orthodox Jewish party. Tommy Lapid, who serves as justice minister in the current government, told a meeting of his parliamentary faction he was prepared “to make sacrifices” and work with United Torah Judaism for the sake of stability after previously insisting he would not work with any ultra-Orthodox party.

“There are moments in life when you must understand the requirements of the moment,” said Lapid. “We said we would be prepared for this sacrifice to order to secure a strong and stable government.”

Sharon is looking to form a new coalition to steer his so-called disengagement plan through Parliament after losing his majority in the Knesset when some traditional supporters baulked at the prospect of pulling troops and settlers out of the Gaza Strip. He has already held talks with the main opposition Labour Party and the UTJ and the larger ultra-Orthodox Shas party about joining the government.

However, he would have to rethink the parliamentary arithmetic if either of the party’s entry into government precipitated a withdrawal by Shinui, the second largest of Sharon’s current coalition partners.