Arafat emerges from devastated compound

7.30am

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Blowing kisses and making a V-for-victory sign, Yasser Arafat emerged from his battered compound on Sunday after Israeli forces retreated under US pressure to lift an internationally condemned siege.

The pullback was an embarrassing climbdown by Israel, which had vowed to end the siege only when the Palestinian president surrendered some 50 suspected militants holed up with him in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The about-face followed a message by US President George W Bush to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon demanding a speedy end to a blockade that Washington apparently feared could hurt its efforts to win international support for war on Iraq.

"We correctly preferred to give a boost to the matter of an American attack on the Iraqis over something we can always do later," said Ephraim Eitam, an ultranationalist member of Israel's cabinet.

The White House said Bush welcomed the Israeli pullback, which Arafat called deceptive because Israeli forces remained in Ramallah -- still under night curfew -- and other West Bank cities reoccupied in June after suicide bombings.

"All parties need to live up to their responsibilities to promote peace, stability and reform in the Palestinian Authority," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

Hundreds of elated Palestinians rushed to the presidential complex in Ramallah after Israeli tanks pulled back from the compound they invaded 10 days ago in response to suicide bombings that killed seven people in Israel.

The Palestinian flag was raised above a partly demolished building in the sprawling complex that Israeli armoured bulldozers and explosives largely reduced to rubble in what Israel had hoped would be a blow to Arafat's prestige.

Instead, Palestinians rallied nightly in the West Bank and Gaza in support of a leader who had been under fire from his own people over the slow pace of reforms demanded by the United States as a condition for resuming talks on statehood.

Against the backdrop of sandbags at the entrance to his office block -- the only building the army left standing -- a smiling Arafat emerged in his trademark fatigues and headdress to raise his arms in a victory salute as the crowd cheered.

But in earlier comments to reporters inside his office, he said the Israelis had not complied with a September 24 UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate end to the siege and "expeditious withdrawal...from Palestinian cities".

"This is not withdrawal," Arafat said. "This is only moving a few metres away. They are trying to deceive the world."

He repeated a call for a "complete ceasefire", an appeal unlikely to lead to any breakthrough without agreement by militant Islamic groups that are dedicated to Israel's destruction and have rejected truce efforts in the past.

Israel said its troops would stay close enough to the compound to prevent the escape of the 50 wanted militants it said were inside. But Israeli television showed armed men slipping away soon after the tanks pulled back.

Visiting the complex after the pullback, Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN's top envoy to the Middle East, told reporters: "I find reason to commend the Israeli government for doing the right thing, but it has to be used as an opportunity for going back to the negotiating table to find a peaceful solution."

As the Israeli tanks left, Sharon boarded a plane for Moscow where he will hold talks with President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials on issues including Israeli concerns that Iraq was amassing weapons of mass destruction.

The Israeli leader had faced a barrage of criticism in the Israeli media for what many commentators saw as a misconceived and internationally damaging move against Arafat for attacks committed by militant Islamic groups he does not control.

After the Israeli troops moved out, Arafat's bodyguards peered out of the windows of what was left of his offices.

"We defeated the Israelis," shouted one, waving his gun. Others licked ice lollies in the carnival-like scene.

Sharon sent his chief of staff, Dov Weisglass, to Washington to try to smooth over tension at the weekend.

Raanan Gissin, a spokesman for Sharon, said Israel pledged "to do whatever it can in order to accommodate and help the United States in its continued campaign against international terrorists".

It was not immediately clear whether Arafat would now quit the compound he has not left since June.

The blockade caused tension within Sharon's ruling coalition, where the centre-left Labour Party maintains an uneasy partnership with right-wing and religious parties.

"We went in...for no reason and we have been bogged down by it," said Haim Ramon, a senior Labour politician.

At least 1572 Palestinians and 601 Israelis have been killed since a Palestinian uprising for statehood began in September 2000 after peace talks stalled.

- REUTERS

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