Israeli occupation troops dug in around Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters Monday after halting demolition of his presidential complex following international censure, even from the United States. Troops stood guard in the leveled compound Monday morning where only one main building remains standing, sheltering the Palestinian president and up to 250 others.

Tanks continued to point their barrels at the building but the bulldozers which reduced most of the compound to rubble were pulled back Sunday and barbed wire now surrounds the complex.

Israel besieged the compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah Thursday after resistance bombings killed seven people. It says it wants 50 suspected resistance activists inside to surrender but the Palestinians say the real aim is to oust Arafat from power.

Washington said Sunday the siege was "not helpful" to peacemaking. It hopes to avoid a surge in violence that could complicate its plans for possible war on Iraq and would again dent hopes of ending two years of Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
It was not clear whether the demolition work had halted entirely. Asked Sunday evening if they had left for good, a senior occupation army commander said: "No."

"I will be here until all the wanted people leave," he said, making clear the siege was far from over. Israel has said it means Arafat no harm in the occupation army operation which it calls "A Matter of Time."

Arafat looks more isolated politically and at his lowest ebb since he returned to the region from exile in 1994. But he was buoyed by support Sunday from thousands of Palestinians, some of them armed, who poured into the streets of cities and towns across the West Bank and Gaza Strip to show solidarity with him.

Troops shot dead four Palestinians during the protests.

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

Hatem Abdel Khader, a Palestinian aide who spoke to Arafat by telephone, said: "He reiterated he will not kneel before (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon and has issued an order to his men that no one may surrender from the building."

OCCUPATION ARMY DELIVERS FOOD TO COMPOUND

In a sign the standoff could be protracted, the occupation army said it had delivered provisions to the shattered compound, where those inside have been hardened by previous assaults.

The rise in tensions has further dimmed hopes of ending violence that has killed at least 1,555 Palestinians and 599 Israelis since the Palestinians rose up against Israeli occupation in September 2000 after peace talks stalled.

The United States Sunday repeated its misgivings over Israel's actions in Ramallah.

"Israeli actions in and around the Muqata (headquarters) are not helpful in reducing terrorist violence or promoting Palestinian reforms," a White House spokeswoman said.

Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported on its Website that the Israeli military halted the demolition of buildings inside the compound after U.S. pressure to calm the situation.

U.S. officials declined comment on the report and President Bush ignored a reporter's question about it.

Britain said it was lodging a formal protest with Israel, in the latest European censure of the Israeli siege.

In the hope of finding a way to ease the standoff, European Union special representative Miguel Angel Moratinos was due in Ramallah to meet Mahmoud Abbas, otherwise known as Abu Mazen, a senior Palestinian leader who is not in the complex

PHOTO CAPTION

A lorry escorted by a convoy of Israeli occupation army jeeps makes its way into the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Sunday, Sept. 22, 2002. (AP Photo/Muhammed Muheisen)