ARAFAT ADDRESSES ARABS IN HEBRON.

Byline: Serge Schmemann The New York Times

Yasser Arafat flew into an ecstatic throng of Palestinians on Sunday to proclaim Hebron ``liberated'' and to hold out an olive branch to Israel and the 450 dejected Jewish settlers in the city.

The arrival of the Palestinian leader on his white, Russian-built helicopter, capped a breakthrough in Arafat's dealings with the conservative Israeli government early Wednesday when Arafat and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu finally shook hands on arrangements for an Israeli withdrawal from four-fifths of Hebron. That agreement concluded the transfer of all major Palestinian population centers to Palestinian control.

Addressing a jubilant crowd of at least 60,000 from a window of the fortress-like former Israeli military headquarters here, Arafat appeared to take pains to send a message of moderation and conciliation to the Israelis.

He made no mention of ``jihad'' or of uprising, but instead referred several times to moving with the Israelis toward a ``just and comprehensive peace.''

To the Jewish settlers in Hebron, whose enclaves are the reason Israel has kept military control over a fifth of the city, and the reason the Israeli pullout was delayed by more than a year after other West Bank cities were transferred to the Palestinians, Arafat tried to sound reassuring.

``I say here to the settlers in Hebron: We don't want a confrontation,'' he declared. ``We want a just peace.''

But on Saturday, Arafat's security chief, Jibril Rajoub, struck what was probably a more widely shared tone when he addressed a rally in Hebron and accused the Jewish settlers of fomenting ``hate, violence and terror.

``They are big stones on our chest, and we have to take them off,'' he said.

In his 10-minute address, Arafat took the unusual step of citing the exact number of Israeli members of Parliament who voted for the Hebron agreement last week and of naming some of the political parties that supported it, as if to underscore to his people that the process now had the backing of a majority of Israelis. Netanyahu submitted the Hebron plan to his Cabinet and Parliament for their approval.

``We have now registered the Hebron agreement, an agreement of peace with all Israeli people, with Labor, with Meretz, with the Likud, with Shas, Kahalani and with others,'' he shouted, punctuating each name with a wave of the hand. ``The result was 87 votes approved the agreement in the Knesset, 87 votes were with the decision of peace.

``This is something new in the region of the Middle East,'' he said. ``Therefore, I tell all the peace forces in Israel who voted with the decision, I tell them, let's together make the just and comprehensive peace.''

Arafat also thanked President Clinton, President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and King Hussein of Jordan, but he did not name Netanyahu. Later, in response to a shouted question from a CNN reporter about the Israeli leader, he said: ``Now we can say we are friends and we are partners in the peace process.''

There was no immediate response from the Israeli government. While Arafat's arrival and speech were shown live in Israel over CNN, no Israeli channel covered them live, and radio reports were brief. The evening news shows offered some snippets and said the Palestinian leader had given ``a very moderate speech.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo

PHOTO Security forces clear the way for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, right, as he moves through a crowd of about 60,000 people in Hebron.

Associated Press