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Arafat-militant standoff tensions cool

Palestinian militants who were detained at gunpoint within President Yasser Arafat's compound after refusing a request to leave said yesterday that they would be allowed to stay if they upheld a truce with Israel.

Israel and the Palestinians were negotiating a deal to transfer the men to Palestinian Authority supervision in Jericho, a Palestinian official said. That could ease the way to Israel lifting its siege of Arafat and pulling out of the West Bank town of Ramallah, the Palestinians' administrative headquarters.

The standoff over the 17 militants illustrates tensions that are slowing progress on the "road map" peace plan. Israel says the Palestinians must dismantle militant groups as required by the US-backed plan. The Palestinians say they fear civil war and need time to persuade the militants to disarm.

Tensions erupted Saturday at the compound to which Arafat has been effectively confined for a year and a half. A leader of the detained militants, Kamal Ghanam, said Arafat had asked them to leave to ease the pressure on him. They refused, and were confined by guards to a room at Arafat's headquarters.

Israel and the US accuse Arafat of fomenting terrorism and are boycotting him. Israel says he is free to leave his headquarters -- much of which has been leveled by Israel's military -- but he might not be allowed to return.

Israeli sources have suggested sending the militants to the relatively isolated and calm West Bank town of Jericho would make it easier for Israel to withdraw from Ramallah.

Israeli Cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit said that if the militants went to Jericho, "the attitude of Israel towards ... Ramallah will change upside down and we will make another step towards the peace process."

Ghanam said yesterday a deal had been reached allowing them to remain at the compound provided they upheld a truce and only had contact with their families.

But a senior Palestinian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israeli and Palestinian officials would meet later yesterday to discuss the issue of the wanted men. He said the Palestinians were seeking US and Israeli assurances that militants would not be harmed if they were moved to Jericho.

The desert oasis is surrounded by Israeli troops, but they maintain little or no presence in the town, and it is considered essentially free of Israeli control.

The detained militants are from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group affiliated with Arafat's Fatah movement which has killed scores of Israelis, primarily in shooting attacks. Fatah joined the Islamic militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad in declaring a cease-fire on June 29, but Al Aqsa is loosely organized and leaders of some branches have refused to abide by the truce.

It was not clear whether the militants in Arafat's compound were wanted in connection with any specific attacks.

On Saturday, Ghanam said they would break the cease-fire if attempts were made to move them.

Although violence has fallen dramatically since the cease-fire declaration, there have been sporadic incidents of deadly violence.

Yesterday, Israeli police shot a driver after he failed to stop at a roadblock near Jerusalem. Israeli media reported the man was Palestinian and died of his wounds.

Police spokesman Gil Kleiman said the man was shot after he rammed a police car at a checkpoint and ran away.

Also yesterday, police searching for a missing teenager said they did not believe she had been abducted by militants.

Dana Bennet, 18, disappeared after leaving her waitressing job in Tiberias, northern Israel, early Friday. Concerns for her safety were high after the body of 20-year-old soldier Oleg Shaichat was found in the same region last Monday, a week after he disappeared. Nobody claimed responsibility for Shaichat's death, but police suspect Palestinians or Israeli Arabs.

Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath and his Israeli counterpart, Silvan Shalom, also were due to meet later yesterday to discuss the road map, which aims to end violence and establish a Palestinian state by 2005.
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