Israeli tanks rumbled out of the West Bank city of Ramallah yesterday, ending a brief reoccupation of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's power base as a US mediator pressed ahead with truce talks.
Dozens of tanks left a trail of crushed cars and toppled utility poles in their wake as residents ventured out into the streets for the first time in three days to view the damage.
Some were jubilant, firing in the air. But Arafat denounced the withdrawal as a trick, saying: "The tanks are still outside Ramallah. They have not withdrawn from most of our towns."
The army said its forces quit positions in two other West Bank cities but remained in Palestinian territory on the outskirts of another four. They also formed a cordon around Ramallah.
The United States has called for a complete withdrawal of all Israeli forces from Palestinian-run areas, saying a pullback would create a better environment for its envoy, retired Marine Corps general Anthony Zinni, to try to broker a truce.
Zinni held talks in Tel Aviv yesterday with Israeli Defence Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who told reporters: "It was a preliminary meeting to see where we stand and what can be done in the first stage."
"We agreed on several things," Ben-Eliezer said, without elaborating. "Today he is going to meet Arafat and I hope that by Saturday night or Sunday we'll know more."
In yesterday's violence, Israeli forces killed a Palestinian policeman in the southern Gaza town of Rafah, hospital officials said. The army had no information on the report.
(Agencies March 16, 2002)
