Arafat A No-Show In Jenin

His travel ban lifted, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat toured battle-scarred West Bank towns Monday, but skipped his most anticipated stop, at the Jenin refugee camp. Israel's ruling Likud Party, meanwhile, ignored Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's pleas and voted to oppose the creation of a Palestinian state.

Arafat ventured outside Ramallah for the first time since December to survey the damage done to Palestinian cities by the Israeli invasion, reports CBS News Correspondent David Hawkins.

Small crowds greeted Arafat in Nablus, where he prayed in a partially destroyed mosque; and in Bethlehem, where he toured the Church of the Nativity. But thousands of people gathered in the ruins of Jenin's refugee camp, hoping to see their recently released leader.

Arafat didn't show.

"We are very, very, very angry from this," said Jenin resident Hamad Assadi.

Worried that some in the chaotic crowd might heckle Arafat for making concessions to Israel to secure his own freedom, Arafat's entourage cancelled his speech at the last minute.

Lack of security was the stated reason. The people here are still angry and out for revenge. They're in no mood for talk about peace and Arafat's in no position to talk about anything else.

Asked why he thought Arafat didn't come into the camp, Jenin resident Abu Sliman said, "Maybe he was afraid. Maybe with good reason."

In Jenin, tempers are short and guns are plentiful. As the crowd dispersed two men got into an argument; one shot the other in the leg.

Arafat may have also shot himself in the foot by skipping the Jenin event. He's never been that popular in this city, which is a stronghold of militant groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

Those groups and their supporters have rejected Arafat's call for an end to terrorist attacks. And Sunday's decision by Israel's ruling Likud Party to oppose the creation of a Palestinian state under any circumstances has only strengthened their belief that the only way to win independence is to fight for it.

The Likud Party vote was a major blow for Sharon. His rival, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pushed the vote through over Sharon's objections, effectively tying the prime minister's hands in future peace talks, reports CBS News Correspondent Robert Berger. Netanyahu is setting himself up as the next leader of a more hard-line Likud, while Sharon says a Palestinian state is inevitable.

In a speech to the Likud Party assembly, Sharon demanded an end to Palestinian terror attacks and wide-ranging reforms in the Palestinian Authority as a condition for renewing peace talks.

"The Palestinian Authority must carry out internal reforms in every way — on security, the economy, the legal system and within society," Sharon said.

"Only then can we sign on a final peace agreement."

Sharon has said Palestinian statehood was inevitable, but has proposed stringent restrictions that Palestinians reject as unacceptable.

Still, the prime minister's position was rejected by his party, which approved a resolution presented by Netanyahu to rule out the creation of any Palestinian state.

Sharon had hoped to avoid such a formal statement, fearing it would limit his maneuverability at a time when Saudi Arabia is promoting a peace initiative and President Bush has spoken out in favor of a Palestinian state.

Arafat responded sharply to the vote. "This is the destruction of the Oslo accords, which they have signed," Arafat said, referring to the interim peace agreements he reached with Israel in the mid-1990s.

Israeli Cabinet minister Tsipi Livni of Likud said the decision would hurt Israel's image. "We, who really acted as a state seeking peace, are presenting a position that could put us outside the picture in any negotiations," Livni said.

Hanan Crystal, an Israeli political commentator, said Sharon was losing power in the party, but was gaining popularity among voters, noting that a majority of Israelis have accepted the idea of eventual Palestinian statehood.

In Washington, a senior Bush administration official declined to comment on the Likud resolution but said Mr. Bush remains committed to the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Until Monday, Arafat had not left the West Bank city of Ramallah for six months, and much of that time he faced Israeli travel restrictions. The siege appeared to boost his popularity, with many Palestinians viewing the Israeli actions against Arafat as part of a larger attempt to dismantle the Palestinian leadership and undermine their aspirations for statehood.

On May 2, Arafat – then confined by Israeli tanks to a few rooms in his headquarters – regained his freedom by agreeing to place six wanted Palestinians in custody.

In his other West Bank stops Monday, Arafat toured the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where more than 200 Palestinians, including wanted gunmen, police and civilians, had been holed up for 39 days before Israel lifted its siege under a deal that sent 13 militiamen into exile.

Arafat has been widely criticized at home for agreeing to the deportations.

Arm-in-arm with senior clergymen and surrounded by security guards, Arafat walked through the basilica and descended a few steps into Jesus' traditional birth grotto. "This place will be always and forever inside our hearts, minds and beliefs," he said during the hour-long tour.

On Sunday, worshippers had returned to the church for the first services since the siege began April 2.

In other developments, two Palestinians were killed in the West Bank.

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man after he opened fire on troops at the main checkpoint on the edge of Bethlehem, the army said.

Also, Israeli soldiers shot dead an armed Palestinian on Monday after he hurled a hand grenade at guards at the entrance to a West Bank army base, the military said.