RAMALLAH (voa) – Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is free to move around again after Israeli forces withdrew from Ramallah early Thursday. Israeli forces had kept Mr. Arafat confined for five months – first to Ramallah, and then just to his headquarters compound.
Israel began the pullout after six Palestinian militants inside the compound were transferred to a Palestinian jail in Jericho under a U.S.-brokered deal. Their confinement there will be monitored by U.S. and British guards.
Palestinian officials say Mr. Arafat will stay in his battered headquarters for now. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon tells U.S. television that Mr. Arafat is free to travel abroad — but that Israel might not let him back in if a terrorist attack took place in his absence.
In his first comments after the Israeli pullout, an angry Mr. Arafat condemned Israel’s actions at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, where Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen fought an intense battle today. Israeli forces continue to surround about 200 Palestinians – some of them armed – who remain inside the Christian holy site. The Palestinian leader called Israel’s actions a “crime,” and asked how the world could be silent about events at the church.
Each side accused the other of starting today’s gunbattle. Fire broke out near the church, but was quickly doused.
On Wednesday, two Palestinian men – including one wounded by Israeli sniper fire – came out of the Israeli-besieged church.
A Vatican envoy is traveling from Rome to Bethlehem in the hope of giving a boost to talks aimed at ending the stand-off that started April 2. Also Wednesday, five Palestinians, including a young girl, were killed in violence between Israeli forces and Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip.
