Arafat Emerges From Besieged West Bank Headquarters
Even as the siege of Arafat's headquarters ended, the standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, one of Christianity's holiest shrines, appeared to harden. During a 12-hour span, two shootouts and a fire broke out in the compound, though not in the 4th-century basilica itself, triggering angry accusations and counter-charges by Israel and the Palestinians.

A leading human rights group, meanwhile, said there was no evidence to support Palestinian allegations that Israeli troops carried out a massacre at the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin, scene of furious fighting last month.

But the report by U.S.-based Human Rights Watch, which spent a week gathering testimony at the camp, said many civilians were killed ``willfully and unlawfully'' and that other serious abuses, some of which could be war crimes, were documented.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Israel-Palestinians.html