Israelis end Arafat siege as fighting breaks out in Bethlehem

Israeli forces completed their withdrawal from Yasser Arafat's West Bank compound today under a United States-brokered deal, ending a one-month siege of the Palestinian leader.

But in a sign that tensions remain high, fierce fighting broke out between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen in a standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem and Israeli troops briefly raided the West Bank town of Tulkarm.

In New York, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he would call off a UN mission to investigate Israel's assault on the Jenin refugee camp and Palestinian allegations of a massacre there, after failing to secure Israeli co-operation.

But the end of the siege of Arafat in the West Bank city of Ramallah met a key demand of world leaders seeking an end to a month-old Israeli offensive and smoothed the way for a visit planned by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to Washington next week.

The army confirmed it had pulled the last of its troops and tanks away from Arafat's compound but were expected to keep Ramallah, the Palestinians' main commercial and political hub, surrounded by a ring of armour.

The Palestinian leader, newly freed from a month of virtual house arrest by Israeli forces, denounced what he called the "barbarian activities" of the Israeli army.

He condemned Israel's stranglehold on the West Bank town of Bethlehem, where Israeli flares lit up the Church of the Nativity during the night. A fire broke out at the church, where gunmen are surrounded by troops, but was quickly put out.

"It is not important what happened to me here. What is important is what is happening in the Church of the Nativity. This is a crime," Arafat, trembling with fury, told reporters in his offices in the badly damaged compound.

Hundreds of whistling and cheering Palestinians surged to the compound to celebrate the Palestinian leader's freedom as he made his first public remarks since Israeli troops moved out.

The Ramallah pullout was quickly followed by the incursion into Tulkarm, where witnesses said troops searched houses and mosques. The army said it arrested five people suspected of attacks on Israelis before pulling out after about six hours.

Under the deal to end the siege, Palestinian, US and British officials escorted six men into armoured vehicles which took them out of Arafat's compound to detention in Jericho, which will be supervised by a US and British team.

Israel originally demanded that the men be handed over for trial in Israel for the assassination of an Israeli minister.

"We do hope that this result or this conclusion will lead to a real negotiation with the Israelis, to go back to the political track," said Palestinian cabinet minister Nabil Amr.

The pullback should improve Israel's image abroad following the military offensive in the West Bank it launched after Palestinian suicide attacks that killed dozens of Israelis.

It should also boost Sharon's hopes of a smooth visit to the United States, Israel's main supporter and provider of $3 billion in annual aid, during which he will meet US President George W. Bush.

Israel said Arafat was now free to leave.

"We hope that he'll use this opportunity to fight against the terror," said Foreign Ministry official Mark Sofer.

Annan said he cancelled the UN mission to probe Israel's assault on Jenin camp after Israel frustrated the United Nations with a series of conditions it was unable to meet.

In a letter delivered to the UN Security Council as it began deliberations on the Middle East, Annan regretted that aborting the mission meant "the long shadow cast by recent events in the Jenin refugee camp will remain".

Israel, which denies Palestinian charges that a massacre occurred in Jenin, said the mission was flawed from the start and that the grounds for conducting it no longer existed.

Abandoning the mission will send home a 20-member team, headed by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, that had gathered in Geneva to await a green light to go to the region.

Israel says Palestinian estimates of the death toll in Jenin are exaggerated and that its troops killed fewer than 50 people. It said most of them were militants responsible for the suicide attacks and that they were killed in fierce fighting.

International political and human rights officials have said initial findings do not support claims of a massacre at the camp, where 23 Israeli soldiers were killed, but expressed concern about serious breaches of humanitarian law by the army.

The deal to end the Ramallah siege followed an initiative by Bush. Israel has also pulled troops out of cities it reoccupied in its West Bank offensive following repeated US appeals.

The fire in the Church of the Nativity died down not long after it started but at its height smoke billowed from the compound as flames licked out from buildings near the church.

Bethlehem governor Mohammed al-Madani, who is in the church, said the fighting was among the worst since the standoff began.

At least 1332 Palestinians and 458 Israelis have been killed since the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation in the West Bank and Gaza City began in September 2000 after peace negotiations stalled.

- REUTERS

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