Militants at Arafat compound to stay, will halt attacks

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Palestinian militants detained after they refused an order to leave Yasser Arafat's Ramallah compound will be released, a leader of the detained militants said Sunday.

Kamal Ghanam, a leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, said the militants would be allowed to remain and would agree to uphold a truce halting attacks on Israelis.

The 17 militants had been held at gunpoint in one of the compound's rooms since early Saturday, when they refused a request from Arafat to move to the quiet West Bank town of Jericho, Ghanam said.

He said that under a deal negotiated between the Palestinian leadership and Israel with U.S. mediation, the militants would be allowed to remain at the compound provided they had contact only with their families and refrained from violence.

Conditions for progress

According to Ghanam, Arafat asked the militants to leave to ease political pressure on the Palestinian leader. Another militant in the compound, speaking on condition of anonymity, said removing militants from the headquarters was an Israeli condition for allowing Arafat to travel.

Arafat has been confined to his office building for the past year and a half, watching as Israeli forces knocked down almost all the buildings in the block-sized compound. Israel's position is that he can leave, but might not be allowed to return.

In the past, militants wanted by Israel have taken shelter at Arafat's compound.

The detained men are form the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group affiliated with Arafat's Fatah movement. Fatah joined other Palestinian militant groups 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.

Ghanam had said Saturday that the militants would break their cease-fire if attempts were made to oust them.

Easing the way

Israeli sources have suggested sending the militants to Jericho would ease the way to Israel withdrawing from Ramallah.

Under the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, Israel has withdrawn from parts of the Gaza Strip and from the West Bank town of Bethlehem. But it is reluctant to pull out of more towns until the Palestinians dismantle militant groups.

In the past, militants wanted by Israel have taken shelter at Arafat's compound.

Meir Shetrit, Israel's junior finance minister, said the militants' presence "has not allowed Israel to relieve the siege."

He said the militants should be sent to a Palestinian-supervised jail in Jericho.

"If that will happen, in my opinion, the attitude of Israel towards ... Ramallah will change upside down and we will make another step towards the peace process," he said.