After five months of confinement at his rocket-scorched compound, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is free to go where he wants, Israel has said in a deal that appeared to resolve one of three tense standoffs in the Mideast conflict.
But Israel and the Palestinians were still wrangling over the other two confrontations. Israel is effectively keeping a UN fact-finding team from arriving, saying it fears an anti-Israel bias that will produce a highly critical report on Israel's military operation in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.
Palestinians called on the United Nations to send the team immediately, claiming Israel is trying to cover up the killings of large numbers of civilians, something Israel strongly denies. At the church of the nativity in Bethlehem, an Israeli sniper killed a Palestinian militiaman when he walked into a courtyard of the compound, the army said. Talks are deadlocked and no formal negotiations were held on Monday on the crisis at the church, where more than 200 Palestinians are holed up inside, many of them armed.
And in the latest Israeli military incursion, tanks and troops poured into Hebron in search of militants, leaving nine Palestinians dead in the West Bank town of Hebron. Bureau Report