Bomb Explosion Inside Yasser Arafat's Headquarters - 2002-04-23

A bomb explosion occurred inside the building of Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader, in the city of Ramallah in the West Bank. Palestinian officials say the explosion took place in an empty building next to Mr. Arafat's office. No one was injured in the explosion. Palestinians have accused Israeli forces, who are surrounding the building, of planting explosives. The Israeli army has not commented on the matter. The explosion occurred while Israeli and Palestinian officials were holding direct negotiations in an attempt to end a three-week standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. About 200 people, including several Palestinian gunmen, have been besieged inside this church since April 2, with deteriorating sanitary conditions, dwindling food supplies, and no medicine available for the wounded. Israel states that the Palestinian gunmen hiding inside the church must either surrender and be tried in an Israeli court or leave Palestinian territories forever and go into exile. Palestinians have rejected Israel's demands. Meanwhile, three Palestinians suspected of collaborating with Israel were killed in the city of Hebron. The bullet-ridden bodies of these three were found in the same location where a senior leader of the extremist Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade was killed during an Israeli missile attack on Monday night.