Israeli Army stops demolition but digs in for long haul

By WAFA AMR in Ramallah

Israeli troops dug in around Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters yesterday after halting demolition of his presidential complex following international censure, even from the United States.

Troops stood guard in the levelled compound, where only one main building remains standing, sheltering the Palestinian President and up to 250 others.

Tanks continued to point their barrels at the building, but the bulldozers that reduced most of the compound to rubble were pulled back and barbed wire now surrounds the complex.

Israel besieged the compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Friday after suicide bombings killed seven people. It said it wanted 50 suspected militants inside to surrender, but the Palestinians say the real aim is to oust Arafat from power.

Washington said yesterday that the siege was "not helpful" to peacemaking. It hopes to avoid a surge in violence that could complicate its plans for war on Iraq and would again dent hopes of ending two years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Asked yesterday if he had left for good, a senior Army commander said, "No". "I will be here until all the wanted people leave," he said, making clear the siege was far from over. Israel has said it means Arafat no harm.

Arafat looks more isolated politically and at his lowest ebb since he returned to the region from exile in 1994.

But he was buoyed by support from thousands of Palestinians, some of them armed, who poured into the streets of cities and towns across the West Bank and Gaza Strip to show solidarity with him.

Troops shot dead four Palestinians during the protests.

"We will hoist the flag of Palestine above the walls, churches and minarets of Jerusalem ... May God make me a martyr," Arafat said defiantly in excerpts of a telephone conversation with an Israeli Arab lawmaker broadcast on Israeli television.

Hatem Abdel Khader, a Palestinian aide who spoke to Arafat by telephone, said: "He reiterated he will not kneel before Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and has issued an order to his men that no one may surrender."

In a sign the standoff could be protracted, the Army said it had delivered provisions to the shattered compound.

The US yesterday repeated its misgivings over Israel's actions in Ramallah.

"Israeli actions in and around the headquarters are not helpful in reducing terrorist violence or promoting Palestinian reforms," a White House spokeswoman said.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported on its website that the Israelis halted the demolition of buildings inside the compound after US pressure to calm the situation. US officials declined comment on the report.

Britain said it was lodging a formal protest with Israel.

In the hope of finding a way to ease the standoff, European Union envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos was due in Ramallah to meet Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, a Palestinian leader who is not in the complex.

- REUTERS

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