NEWSpot Morning Edition

February 28, 1997

Arafat keeps Palestinian anger over Jerusalem in check

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat Thursday heeded U.S. warnings to keep the lid on violent protests over an Israeli decision to build a large new Jewish settlement in mainly Arab East Jerusalem. Arafat attacked the plan as a serious breach of Palestinian-Israeli peace agreements. But officials of his Fatah party reined in youths marching to the site where Israel plans to build 6,500 Jewish houses. About 2,000 demonstrators began the march but only about 500 reached the site, where they dispersed peacefully.

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