RAMALLAH (voa) – Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has vowed to rebuild Ramallah after touring the war-battered West Bank city hours after Israeli troops withdrew from his compound and ended his long confinement. A defiant Mr. Arafat flashed the V-for-victory sign to cheering crowds of Palestinians as he emerged from his office, where he had been confined by Israeli forces since March.
Mr. Arafat condemned what happened in Ramallah as racism as he visited a hospital and several severely damaged Palestinian Authority buildings. He also said prayers at a graveyard where Palestinians killed during the uprising against Israeli occupation are buried.
Mr. Arafat says he is horrified by the damage from the Israeli offensive, and he denounced what he called the “barbaric activities” of the Israeli army.
Israel had restricted Mr. Arafat’s movements since December. He was further confined to a few rooms in his headquarters in late March, when the Israeli army invaded West Bank towns and cities after Palestinian suicide attacks that killed dozens of Israelis.
Israeli troops left Ramallah before dawn today (Thursday), and Mr. Arafat regained his freedom, under a U.S.-brokered deal that transferred six Palestinians wanted by Israel from the Arafat compound to Jericho, where they are imprisoned under British and American supervision.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says Mr. Arafat is now free to travel abroad. But Mr. Sharon says Israel might not allow the Palestinian leader to return if a terrorist attack takes place while he is away.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops and tanks entered the West Bank town of Tulkarm early Thursday. The army says it arrested five people suspected of planning attacks against Israelis. Palestinian witnesses say soldiers took over nearly one-third of the town.
