Israeli troops and tanks pulled back from their blockade of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah late Wednesday evening.
At least 20 tanks, armored vehicles and jeeps left the city after pulling back toward the outskirts of Ramallah from positions across the city, local residents said.
As the tanks pulled away, Palestinian police and security officers ran into the compound and shouted slogans in support of Arafat.
Israel’s Army Radio said the withdrawal was expected to be completed during the night. The army said it had arrested about 75 Palestinians and confiscated many weapons in Ramallah since Monday.
"The action was done quietly, and I think the results are quite impressive," Israel’s Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer told Israel's Channel Two television shortly before the withdrawal began.
Israel began its blockade of the compound in a pre-dawn operation Monday, after a bombing attack on an Israeli bus in northern Israel that killed 17 people, most of them soldiers.
A Reuters correspondent saw Arafat in his headquarters soon after the tanks withdrew. He said the Palestinian leader looked well and was smiling as he received European Union Middle East envoy Miguel Angel Moratinos.
Earlier Wednesday, PA Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said that the Palestinians had reason to suspect that U.S. President George W. Bush has given Israel’s Prime Minister Ariel Sharon his approval to continue the Israeli raid in Ramallah as well as its blockade of Arafat's headquarters. (Albawaba.com)
© 2002 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
