End of the Siege of Yasser Arafat's Headquarters - 2002-02-25

The Israeli army ended the siege of Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah, West Bank, but still prevents Mr. Arafat from leaving the city. Israeli tanks withdrew from around the Palestinian leader's headquarters in the early hours of today after the country's security cabinet decided to ease the restrictions imposed on Mr. Arafat's movement. Since early December, Israel had effectively confined Mr. Arafat to his headquarters and demanded the arrest and handover of the assassins of the Israeli tourism minister. Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy chief, stated that Mr. Arafat should be granted complete and absolute freedom of movement so he can fulfill his duties. Following his meeting today with Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres in Jerusalem, Mr. Solana told reporters that it is better for Mr. Arafat's travel and movement to be facilitated as soon as possible. Meanwhile, following gunfire last night by Israeli soldiers towards the car carrying Ahmad Qorei, the Palestinian parliament speaker, at an Israeli checkpoint near Ramallah, Shimon Peres apologized to Mr. Qorei. Palestinians claim that Mr. Qorei's car was shot at several times as it approached the Israeli checkpoint, but no one was injured during the shooting.