The Israeli army has halted its demolition of buildings inside Yasser Ararat's Ramallah compound. The decision to cease the demolition works was adopted on Sunday afternoon.
Top security sources told Ha'aretz newspaper that the decision was based on several considerations, including the wave of protests that swept the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in which five Palestinians were killed, as well as U.S. calls that Israel should act to calm the situation. After three days of demolitions, the only building that remains largely untouched is the building in which Arafat is holed up.
The Israeli operation was described by the White House as "not helpful."
"Israeli actions in and around the Muqata are not helpful in reducing terrorist violence or promoting Palestinian reforms," White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo said Sunday.
Mamo also strongly condemned the Palestinian suicide bombings and called on the Palestinians to stop such attacks while urging Israel to "continue considering the consequences of its actions."
The five Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire after massive protests erupted across the West Bank and Gaza Strip in a show of support for Arafat.
According to AFP, two Palestinians died from their wounds in Ramallah after being struck down by Israeli bullets during the pro-Arafat demonstrations that broke out in the city early Sunday morning.
The two counted among four Palestinians hit when Israeli troops fired on demonstrators in the city, Palestinian Red Crescent officials said. Protestors threw stones at Israeli soldiers who fired rubber bullets at the crowd in Ramallah's center and also shot into the air in an attempt to disperse the angry crowd.
Hospital sources said another 10 people were injured by rubber bullets in northern Ramallah after troops opened fire on stone-throwers.
The demonstrations began in Ramallah when a group of some 25 foreign peace activists were joined by hundreds of Palestinian residents in a march toward Arafat's compound where the army is demanding the Palestinian leader hand over 20 wanted activists.
Some 2,500 demonstrators took to the streets of the Nablus, and a comparable number in the city's Balata refugee camp where two teenage protestors were shot dead by Israeli soldiers.
Large demonstrations were also reported in Tulkarem where a fourth Palestinian protestor was gunned down and left severely injured. Also in Tulkarem, Palestinian fighters traded fire with Israeli troops.
In the West Bank town of Jericho, about 400 protesters marched to a local prison, demanding the release of six men held under U.S. and British supervision as part of a deal that prompted Israel to lift a 34-day siege of Arafat's compound in May. The foreign monitors of the prisoners threatened to leave, saying they felt endangered by the mob, according to security officials in Jericho.
Protests also flared in the northern town of Jenin and surrounding villages, witnesses said.
Witnesses said some 500 people gathered at the northern entrance to Ramallah despite an Israeli army closure. As one group of about 100 protesters approached Arafat's headquarters, they were stopped by Israeli troops who threw stun-bombs to disperse them, witnesses said.
In the town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip, about 5,000 people joined the protests, some firing submachine guns into the air and holding up Arafat pictures.
In the compound itself, Israeli soldiers threatened several times over loudspeakers to blow up the building where Arafat is holed up unless about 50 wanted men inside surrendered. The Palestinian leader refused to hand over members of his entourage.
The Israeli army on Sunday cut off the electricity, water and telephone lines to Arafat's office, a Palestinian official said. "The Israeli army on Sunday cut off the water, electricity and phone lines to the Palestinian president," said the official, adding that the links had previously been cut but had then been restored.
A member of Arafat's entourage inside his embattled office confirmed that the power had been cut. "The air conditioning is no longer working," he told AFP.
Arafat appealed to activists Saturday to halt attacks on Israel. He spent the day making telephone calls and faxes from a conference room in the building, where a total of about 200 people are holed up.
Arafat will "never" hand over 20 Palestinians whose surrender is demanded by Israel, a top Palestinian official said, saying that to do so would be "political suicide".
"After discussions and consultations with the Palestinian leadership -- and this is not subject to discussion -- the Palestinian leadership will never deal with this issue ... it would be like political suicide," former labour minister Ghassan Khatib told AFP.
Egypt urged the United States, Russia and France to force Israel to lift its siege of Arafat's headquarters, the foreign ministry said. Egypt's Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher spoke by telephone to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, on the "dangerous situation in the Palestinian territories and the latest Israeli aggression against the Palestinian president's HQ", the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Maher "urged his American counterpart to intervene immediately to make Israel halt its aggression" and Powell replied that he was "in contact with the Israeli side to calm the situation and prevent it escalating", the statement added. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
