Arafat to Leave Compound After Assassins Jailed: Official

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, April 29, 2002

Arafat to Leave Compound After Assassins Jailed: Official

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A senior Palestinian official said Monday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat might leave his compound in Ramallah after the assassins of Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Ze'evi were taken to a prison in the West Bank town of Jericho.

Palestinian National Authority (PNA) Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo told reporters that the Palestinians are waiting for British and U.S. security guards to take the six prisoners to a prison in Jericho.

He said that he believes that the siege imposed on Arafat's compound by the Israeli army since March 29 would be lifted in the coming one or two days, adding that Arafat has refused to leave his compound until the Israeli army lifts the siege and leaves the West Bank town of Ramallah.

The six Palestinians who are to be guarded by British and American guards under the term of a U.S.-brokered deal to end the siege of Arafat's Ramallah compound will be moved to a prison in Jericho in the next day or two.

Four of the six prisoners are the assassins of Ze'evi, who was gunned down in a hotel in East Jerusalem last October. The fifth is the chief of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and the last one is Fuad Shubeiki, a PNA official involved in the Karine A ship weapons-smuggling affair.

Earlier on Monday, Israeli officials announced that Arafat can now leave his compound and go wherever he chooses in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Arafat's aides, however, have advised him to wait until the prisoners have been transferred to Jericho, said Abed Rabbo, adding that as soon as the six leave Arafat's headquarters, Arafat will be free to move.

The six have been holed up with Arafat in his compound since the start of the siege. Israel had said that it would not withdraw its troops from the West Bank city until the six were handed over to stand trial.

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