How trapped leader survived bombing

Only a door separates Yasser Arafat from Israeli soldiers within his Ramallah presidential compound, Palestinian Authority Intelligence chief Tawfik Tirawi told Qatar's al Jazeera television channel yesterday.

The door opens on to a passage connecting the seven buildings Israeli army special forces seized in a midnight incursion on Friday with the four rooms the Palestinian leader, with around 20 aides and guards, now inhabits.

These are all who remain in the 70-year-old building that once housed British soldiers during the Mandate period, Israeli soldiers during the occupation and, until Friday, Palestinian Authority personnel.

'The leadership has gone,' says an aide to Arafat, saying most are staying in one of Ramallah's hotels. So have the fighters. They are staying in stairwells and gardens throughout the city.

One of Arafat's bodyguards was killed in the conquest and 20 were wounded, some facing the Israeli army with little more than pistols.

Israeli soldiers briefly entered the four rooms but then withdrew, mindful perhaps of the assurance US Secretary of State Colin Powell had given on Friday that 'whatever action [Israel] might take, it would not include bringing any harm to Chairman Arafat or killing him'.

On Friday Arafat had delivered fire and brimstone speeches from his besieged office, projecting defiance to Israel, steadfastness to his people and 'martyrdom' in the cause of Jerusalem.

Yesterday in a candle-lit interview he asked the world to end what he called Israel's assault on his people.

'I appeal to the international community to stop this aggression against our people, this military escalation, this killing,' Arafat told Reuters in English.

'Together we will march until one of our children raises the Palestinian flag over the churches and mosques of Jerusalem,' the Palestinian leader declared in Arabic, accusing Israel of 'terrorist, racist actions using all kinds of American weapons'.

But how did he feel as the lights, literally, went out, the water trickled to a drop, his single mobile phone started to fade and the Israeli soldiers crowded on to his doorstep?

'I think he was a little afraid,' said the aide. 'There were moments on Friday when he thought his life was in danger. But he is better today. He feels he has protection.

'He doesn't believe the world can let this situation continue indefinitely. The UN Security Council resolution calling on Israel to withdraw from Ramallah is one sign. US pressure on [Israeli leader Ariel] Sharon to ease the siege will be another. And sooner or later Labour Ministers in the Israeli government will say enough is enough. As long as Arafat doesn't feel he is threatened physically, he will hold out.'

But few deny this has been anything other than the roughest of rides for the Palestinian leader.

'We didn't only spend a night under siege, but also under continuous shelling and shooting,' said Tirawi, one of the few who remained with Arafat in the compound.

The worst moment came in the aftermath of the siege. Palestinians in the compound say soldiers tried to arrest PA men in ambulances waiting to drive them to hospital. Arafat is said to have helped his doctor care for the wounded inside his office.

Anecdotes like this explain Arafat's rising stock among Arabs. As so often during his 34-year stewardship of the Palestinian nation he is at his strongest when his back is pressed against the wall.

How did Arafat survive one of the most perilous nights of his life? 'Like the rest of his people, without electricity and water,' answered Tirawi.