Israel relaxed its siege of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Ramallah headquarters under heavy pressure from Washington but said it would keep troops in the area to ensure wanted men inside do not escape. But the decision stopped short of a complete withdrawal demanded in a UN Security Council resolution passed last week, and was denounced by the Palestinians, who said that it changed almost nothing on the ground. Seemed like it did, when Yasser came out and blew kisses to the crowd of
After the Israeli tanks, troops and bulldozers withdrew, men swarmed out of the fetid headquarters building where they had been trapped for 10 days by tanks, embracing each other with joy although Israeli troops remained close by. Many of the armed security guards went to search the severely damaged interior ministry building next to Arafat's offices, looking for their belongings in the rubble.
"Aw, man! Lookit my dynamite belt! It's ruined! Those Zionist bastards!"
A security officer trapped with Arafat said the 250 men inside his headquarters building had received orders not to leave the surrounding compound even if the Israelis pulled back.
"Did somebody named Tirawi call for a taxi? Heh heh!"
Ambulances arrived to ferry away the sick, while locals turned out to inspect the damage caused by the israeli troops, who destroyed virtually every building in the complex, or Muqataa, except Arafat's own.
There're saving what's left for next time...
UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen was quick to arrive at the scene and went into immediate talks with Arafat inside the Palestinian leader's battered offices.
"Cheeze, Yasser! I'm so glad you're okay! I was so-o-o-o worried!"
"What took you so long to get 'em to pull back? I coulda been killed!"
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government had previously said it would not lift its siege — which was imposed after two suicide bombings in Israel — until a number of wanted men inside the building gave themselves up. However, the Jewish state's open flouting of the UN resolution 1435 angered its major ally Washington, which is piling on pressure on Iraq and using Baghdad's past violation of UN resolutions as a stick to beat President Saddam Hussein. Israeli public radio said Sharon had told his ministers at a weekly cabinet meeting that the move was aimed at easing the situation for the United States as it builds an anti-Iraqi consensus.
Pulling back without getting at least some of the Bad Guys was a bad move. It's a move that's going to come back and chew them in the butt — and us, too.
Senior Arafat adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina said the Israeli decision was no more than a trick to sidestep the UN resolution, whose violation has brought widespread criticism. "This announcement is a farce and a fraud, by which Israel hopes to get round the application of Security Council resolution 1435," Nabil Abu Rudeina told AFP.
Well, okay then. Everybody back inside, and bring the tanks back up. See if you notice a difference.