Israeli Bulldozers Halt Demolition Of Arafat Complex

JERUSALEM, Sept. 22 -- Israeli bulldozers halted the demolition of Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah tonight as the Palestinian leader remained confined with more than 200 others in a single building surrounded by coils of barbed wire. Palestinian protests in support of Arafat spread across the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israel rebuffed several overtures to mediate an end to the siege, diplomats said. Israelis, Palestinians and Western diplomats said they believe Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is trying to force the Palestinian leader to seek exile abroad.

After destroying most of the buildings in the sprawling complex -- the Ramallah governor's office, a conference center, an intelligence headquarters and several mobile homes -- Israeli soldiers late Saturday added one more highly symbolic humiliation, raising the blue-and-white Israeli flag over the Palestinian leader's compound.

"It's gloating," said Saeb Erekat, the chief Palestinian negotiator. "It's their silly idea of a victory." He added, "The idea of raising the flag on the compound means they don't want Palestinians here, they don't want us to exist."

Arafat was defiant. "We will hoist the flag of Palestine above the walls, churches and minarets of Jerusalem. . . . May God make me a martyr," Arafat said in excerpts of a telephone conversation with an Israeli Arab lawmaker broadcast on Israeli television, Reuters reported.

In the protests, two Palestinians were killed early today in Ramallah, and two more later in the day when Israeli troops opened fire, according to Palestinian hospital officials and the Israeli army. The army said there were armed Palestinians in the crowds. A fifth Palestinian, a teenager, was shot and killed in Nablus, in the northern West Bank. The army said it was checking the details of the fifth death.

Tonight, hundreds of Palestinian youths were gathering to protest in Ramallah's Manara Square, but the Israeli military this time appeared to be making no attempt to disperse the crowd, as it has in the past.