Arafat starts to close shop and head for home

YASSER ARAFAT, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, has ordered the closure of his organisation's offices in Tunis, heightening expectation that his 'homecoming' to Gaza and Jericho is imminent and that there is no going back.

A factor delaying his return had been uncertainty about funds to run the self-rule areas but yesterday the Palestinians won limited immediate aid of dollars 40m ( pounds 26m) from international donors meeting in Paris. Mr Arafat had made clear he would not return without some money to shore up his credibility and prove to his people that self-rule can work. Despite pledges last year of dollars 2.4bn in development aid, none had been handed over. Donors accused Mr Arafat of failing to meet terms for accountability, while he accused them of reneging on commitments.

This week Mr Arafat said the Palestinian authority needed dollars 120m immediately to cover running expenses and at least dollars 30m a month to pay for police, civil servants, schools and hospitals.

The announcement that his Tunis headquarters are to shut, ahead of his return to Gaza and Jericho, surprised many Palestinian leaders, who view it as the final symbolic nail in the coffin of the PLO, which moved to Tunis after evacuating from Lebanon in 1982.

PLO power and personnel have been shifting from 'outside' in Tunis to 'inside' the self-rule enclaves for some weeks. Now, however, Mr Arafat is signalling that the PLO is being superseded by the new, 24-member Palestine National Authority, which is to run the enclaves ahead of elections. Mr Arafat is also signalling that he cannot tolerate a 'liberation' movement outside which could threaten his new base inside. The new authority will be inaugurated on his arrival.

'By closing down the Tunis offices Arafat is saying the PLO is gone,' said Ibramim abu Lughod, vice-president of Bir Zeit University in the West Bank. 'It means the end of the PLO as a national liberation movement.'

Saeb Erekat, a member of the National Authority, said the PLO would continue to operate from offices in Jordan and Lebanon, from where it would serve the needs of Palestinian refugees outside Gaza and Jericho.

Elias Freij, another National Authority member, and Mayor of Bethlehem, said: 'Mr Arafat has shut down in Tunis to convince the whole world he is coming to Jericho and, despite all the shortcomings of the agreement, he will be here to stay.'

Speculation about when Mr Arafat might make his historic 'voyage' - as the journey is being heroically termed - has reached fever-pitch. The chairman appears to be enjoying keeping the world guessing about the date of his 'touch-down'.