Arafat Free to Go Now: Israeli Defense Source

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, April 30, 2002

Arafat Free to Go Now: Israeli Defense Source

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A source with the Israeli Defense Ministry confirmed to Xinhua on Monday that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who has been confined to his headquarters compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, is free now.

"He can go to Gaza and other Palestinian places and even overseas," the source said.

Israeli Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer also confirmed later Monday that Arafat's confinement was at an end.

He said that Israel Defense Forces (IDF) troops will withdraw from Ramallah in the next few days, but Arafat is free to move around now.

"Already today, Arafat can go where he chooses," said Ben Eliezer.

However, according to a Palestinian source, Arafat's aides have advised the Palestinian leader to remain in his compound until the four convicted assassins of Israeli former Tourism Minister Rehavam Ze'evi have been transferred to a prison in the West Bank town of Jericho.

On Sunday, both Israel and Palestinians accepted a fresh U.S. proposal to end the siege on Arafat, under which American and British soldiers will guard the Palestinian jail where the four convicted Palestinians will serve their sentences.

However, according to an Israeli official source, Israel has not given up its demand for the extradition of the four.

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