THE MIDDLE EAST: A convoy of British and American diplomatic cars pulled out of the Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat's battered headquarters compound in Ramallah last night, evacuating six Palestinian prisoners and paving the way to the lifting of a month-long Israeli siege.
The six, each in a separate car, were driven the 40 minutes or so to a Palestinian military jail in Jericho, where they will now be held under British and American supervision. With that, Israel was set to begin moving tanks and troops away from the compound toward the outskirts of Ramallah, freeing Mr Arafat to leave the single building where he has been held for the past month and the city to which he has been restricted since early December, and to travel abroad.
Although there is word of imminent trips to South Africa, Russia and elsewhere, his spokesman, Mr Nabil Abu-Rudeineh, said last night that Mr Arafat "does not intend to leave Ramallah soon". Instead, Palestinian officials said, Mr Arafat planned to remain in Ramallah and oversee efforts to rebuild the Palestinian Authority - which essentially ceased to exist in April, as Israel's unprecedented military offensive in the West Bank saw key PA security installations and ministry buildings targeted.
The deal that ended the siege was proposed by the Bush administration and reportedly finalised in secretive negotiations between Mr Omri Sharon, son of the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, and Mr Mohammad Dahlan, head of the Palestinian Preventive Security Apparatus in Gaza.
Asked in a CNN interview whether an unrestricted Mr Arafat would now work hard to thwart the suicide-bombings inside Israel that prompted the military assault, Mr Saeb Erekat, the Palestinian negotiator, said that "our obligations will be carried out in accordance with our existing capabilities," and that "I honestly don't know what capabilities we have left". However, President Bush has stated that Mr Arafat will now have to "win my trust" by moving to prevent such bombings. Mr Bush has reached an informal alliance with Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, under which the US will urge Mr Sharon to minimise further West Bank incursions and the Saudis will press Mr Arafat toward a crackdown against the extremists, with the wider aim of bringing the two parties back to substantive peace negotiations, possibly via a regional conference with wider Arab involvement. Mr Sharon is due to visit Washington next week, where Mr Bush is expected to hammer home the need for a return to the peace table; the Saudis are said to be already in contact with Mr Arafat.
The six men transferred to Jericho last night included four men convicted by a Palestinian military tribunal of last October's assassination of the Israeli tourism minister; the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine official, Mr Ahmed Saadat (now the PFLP's head) alleged by Israel to have orchestrated the killing; and Mr Fuad Shubaki, an Arafat adviser said by Israel to have financed a shipment of Iranian arms intercepted by Israel in January.
Mr Arafat reportedly sought to exclude the latter two from the transfer, but backed down, attracting criticism from the PFLP's founder, Mr George Habash. He also sought and apparently received assurances that Israel would not raid the Jericho jail in any future military operation - as it has raided other PA prisons and installations in retaliatory attacks following suicide bombings. Finally, he obtained an Israeli commitment that he would be allowed to return to Palestinian territory from any trips abroad. Israeli officials said last night, however, that no such guarantee would apply if there were further major suicide bombings.
In Gaza yesterday, four Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire, including a two-year-old girl hit by shrapnel in her home, Palestinian doctors said. Israeli military officials said a roadside bomb was detonated near a tank, and that its troops fired on those responsible. A young Palestinian also died in an unexplained explosion outside Bethlehem.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council was meeting again last night over the Secretary General's efforts, thwarted by Israel, to send a fact-finding mission to Jenin.