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Dozens of Israeli troops, backed by at least 10 military jeeps, besieged Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's headquarters Friday night in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Palestinian security sources and witnesses said. The Israeli soldiers prevented any Palestinians from entering in or going out of the headquarters and began to check the residents' IDs and search their cars, they said.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a top aide to Arafat, told reporters that besieging the Palestinian leader's headquarters would "lead to unexpected negative results on the whole region." He called upon the Quartet Committee, consisting of the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations, to prevent Israeli siege of Arafat's headquarters.
The Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz reported Friday that the Israel Defense Forces recently conducted a simulation "war game" about what would happen after Arafat passes away.
The report said the exercise examined several possible scenarios and how Arafat's death - by natural causes - would influence the domestic situation in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and its relations with Israel.
Israeli security sources told Ha'aretz that the exercise was not the result of any new information about the state of Arafat's health.
Last fall there was speculation about the 75-year-old man's health after he appeared to be fatigued and gaunt, but he seemed to be feeling fine after medical treatment.
(Xinhua News Agency March 6, 2004)
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