WEST BANK/JERUSALEM: ISRAEL HAS ANNOUNCED IT ORDERED ITS FORCES TO PULL OUT OF SEVERAL WEST BANK CITIES

Record ID: 400783

  • Title: WEST BANK/JERUSALEM: ISRAEL HAS ANNOUNCED IT ORDERED ITS FORCES TO PULL OUT OF SEVERAL WEST BANK CITIES
  • Date: 3rd January 2002
  • Summary: (U3) TIREH, RAMALLAH, WEST BANK (JANUARY 3, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. LV EMPTY STREET SCENE AFTER OVERNIGHT WITHDRAWAL OF ISRAELI TROOPS FROM RAMALLAH NEIGHBOURHOOD OF TIREH 0.05 2. SLV SHELTER / MURAL OF PALESTINIAN FLAG 0.09 3. LV EMPTY STREET 0.14 4. SV SANDBAGGED WINDOWS OF BUILDING 0.19 5. LV OF BUILDING / EMPTY S
  • Embargoed: 18th January 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: RAMALLAH, QALANDIA CHECKPOINT, HEBRON, WEST BANK / JERUSALEM
  • City:
  • Country: Palestinian Territories
  • Reuters ID: LVA8RP0KRPERNNXRDHN6GOQ8H5MG
  • Story Text: Israel has announced it ordered its forces to pull out
    of several West Bank cities, but Palestinian President Yasser
    Arafat has denied the authenticity of the withdrawal and
    suggested the move was a ploy aimed at deceiving Washington's
    Middle East troubleshooter Anthony Zinni.



    U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni, who ended an earlier mission
    to the region in mid-December, has arrived in the region to
    meet Israeli officials on Thursday (January 3) and Palestinian
    officials on Friday (January 4) to try to forge a lasting
    ceasefire after two weeks of relative calm.

    Israeli forces took up positions in and around Palestinian
    cities and towns late last year after a wave of bloody
    Palestinian attacks. The pullout announcement followed a
    stepped-up effort by Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to rein
    in militant groups behind the violence.

    Israeli foreign ministry official Gideon Meir said on
    Thursday Israeli forces pulled out from Qalqilya, Jenin,
    Nablus and part of Ramallah overnight.

    Israeli forces remained within areas of Ramallah where
    Israel has banned Palestinian
    President Yasser Arafat from leaving. Witnesses said Israeli
    tanks were still stationed near
    Arafat's office.

    Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon reaffirmed late on
    Wednesday (January 2) that Arafat would not be allowed to
    leave Ramallah until he arrested the killers of an Israeli
    cabinet minister.

    Palestinian security chief Jibril Rajoub told 'Voice of
    Palestine' the ban would not "break the will" of Arafat, who
    effectively has been stranded in Ramallah since early
    December.

    Whereas the Ramallah neighbourhood of Tireh showed signs
    of the overnight Israeli withdrawal, Israeli tanks remained
    stationed in the neighbourhood of Irsal on Thursday morning.

    Following a meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan
    Petersen Arafat invited the media to see for themselves the
    extent to which Israeli forces have or have not withdrawn from
    Palestinian controlled areas.

    "I am inviting you (journalists) to go and visit the
    places that Israel claimed they withdrew from, if it is true,
    or not. Some journalists went there and they saw that this is
    not true until now," said Arafat.

    "It is an attempt to appease the Norwegian Foreign
    Minister or maybe before the arrival of Zinni," he added.

    Restrictions were eased at some checkpoints on Thursday,
    but traffic crawled at others.

    At the Qalandia checkpoint leading from Ramallah in the
    West Bank to Jerusalem and Jericho, Israeli forces maintained
    their inspection of Palestinian vehicles and documents.


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