Arafat siege set to end as prisoners handed over

Yasser Arafat reached an agreement with US and British officials yesterday that should pave the way for the Palestinian leader`s release from the West Bank compound besieged by Israeli forces.

Arafat agreed in principle to put an initiative by US President George W. Bush in motion by moving six men wanted by Israel from his Ramallah headquarters to a jail supervised by Americans and Britons in Jericho, a Palestinian official said.

Witnesses said a convoy of at least 11 diplomatic cars entered Arafat`s presidential compound, accompanied by Israeli military vehicles, as darkness fell. Witnesses said that later the six Palestinian prisoners left Arafat`s headquarters after they were handed over to US and British officials. They were escorted by Palestinian security personnel as well as the foreign officials who will oversee their detention in a Palestinian jail, the witnesses said.

Israel stuck to its guns, meanwhile, in blocking a UN mission to investigate death and destruction at the Jenin refugee camp, where Palestinians accuse Israeli forces of committing a massacre during a West Bank sweep for militants.

Israeli security sources said the army would remove its ring of armour around Arafat`s battered compound once the six men, including four involved in killing an Israeli cabinet minister in October, were taken to Jericho, near the Dead Sea.

"Afterwards, Arafat is free to go wherever he wants - within the (West Bank and Gaza) or even abroad," one of the sources said.

Seeking to isolate Arafat, Israeli armour smashed into his compound on March 29 after Israel launched a West Bank offensive following Palestinian suicide bombings that killed scores of Israelis.

The scene of Israeli tanks rolling out of Ramallah could give the Jewish state a boost in world opinion as it faced international criticism of its decision to defy the United Nations over the crushing assault in the Jenin camp.

Israeli officials made clear they were prepared to weather the storm if UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan disbanded the Jenin fact-finding mission after Israel imposed tough conditions on its activities in the West Bank camp, where Israel insists no massacre took place.

Government spokesman Mark Sofer said Israel was unfazed by the introduction of a Security Council resolution by Arab members, led by Syria and Tunisia, demanding it cooperate with the inquiry or else face undefined measures.

"I think this is part and parcel of the hypocrisy, the singling-out we face in some of these international bodies," Sofer said.

The United States has opposed the resolution, drafted under Chapter VII of the UN charter which allows for sanctions. Sofer said he hoped Washington would exercise its veto if it came to a vote.

In Washington, US Senate Republican leader Trent Lott said the United States was headed towards a joint strategy with Saudi Arabia to pressure Israeli and Palestinian leaders to end the current Middle East crisis.

Four of the militants being transferred to Jericho are members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) convicted by a Palestinian military court of involvement in the assassination on October 17 of far-right Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi in a Jerusalem hotel.

The PFLP said it killed Zeevi to avenge Israel`s assassination of its leader Abu Ali Mustafa in a helicopter missile attack in the West Bank on August 27.

The fifth wanted man is Mustafa`s successor, PFLP leader Ahmad Saadat. The sixth is Fuad Shubaki, accused by Israel of arranging an arms shipment from Iran that was destined for the Palestinian Authority and intercepted in the Red Sea in January.

Four Palestinians, including an 11-month-old girl, were killed by Israeli troops during clashes in the Gaza Strip.

At the Israeli-besieged Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where some 30 wanted gunmen and dozens of other people are holed up, soldiers shot and wounded a gunman they spotted in the courtyard, the army said.

Haggling over food for the dozens of people inside has held up further talks on ending the month-old standoff at the church built over the site revered by Christians as the birthplace of Jesus.

Annan was expected to make a decision soon on whether to cancel the UN`s Jenin mission or disband the team and resume talks to resolve the impasse with Israel.

Fifty-two people have been confirmed killed in the Jenin camp, but Palestinian doctors say hundreds more civilians may have died, many in homes razed by bulldozers during fighting.

Israel says seven civilians were killed in the camp, along with 45 Palestinian fighters. Twenty-three Israeli soldiers were also killed.

At least 1,332 Palestinians and 458 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation broke out in September 2000, after peace negotiations stalled.