Arafat won't release names

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- Yasser Arafat on Monday rejected Israel's demand that he provide a list of everyone holed up with him in his besieged office, a Palestinian negotiator said after meeting with Israeli officials in the first face-to-face contact in the five-day standoff.\nIn the divided West Bank city of Hebron, one Israeli was killed and three others were wounded by Palestinian gunfire, settlers and the military said. The Palestinians fired at a Jerusalem family walking to the city's disputed holy site, the burial cave of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the military said.\nIsrael eased Arafat's isolation in Ramallah by allowing two Palestinian negotiators to brief him, the first such gesture since the siege began Thursday.\nOn Sunday, Israel halted the demolition of Arafat's headquarters, reportedly amid intense U.S. pressure. Israeli troops maintained their siege of Arafat's office where he is staying with about 200 aides and security guards.\nPalestinian protests and international criticism of the Israeli military operation intensified. Israel launched the operation after a Palestinian suicide bomber blew up a Tel Aviv bus, killing himself and six others.\nPalestinians held a commercial strike in parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip on Monday. In Gaza, thousands of people marched in support of Arafat, most of them school children bused to the rally, but stores only partially observed the strike and in the West Bank Israeli army curfews kept people at home in many areas.\nThe U.N. Security Council was convening Monday to discuss the operation. European and Arab states demanded that Israel end its siege.\nThe U.S. ambassador to Israel, Dan Kurtzer, met with Ariel Sharon over the weekend. Kurtzer told Sharon the assault on Arafat's compound was disrupting preparations for a possible attack on Iraq and was likely to stall internal reforms in the Palestinian Authority, media reports said.\nPublicly, the United States said the Israeli operation was not helpful to efforts to fight terrorism.\nIsraeli Cabinet Secretary Gideon Saar said the United States "understands Israel's right to self defense... On the other hand they have concerns and this is natural."\nPLO official Sari Nusseibeh said demonstrators who gathered outside the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem on Monday "have come here to present our deep concern to the American government ... We believe that (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon is trying to kill the peace prospects."\nMonday's meeting between Israeli military officials and Palestinian Cabinet minister Saeb Erekat took place at Israel's Beit El military base north of Ramallah, Palestinian officials said. Erekat later drove to Arafat's compound in a Mercedes escorted by an Israeli army jeep.\nErekat said Arafat rejected Israel's demand that he name those with him. "We told them (the Israelis) that this is none of their business, and we called for an immediate and unconditional withdrawal from President Arafat's office, and an end to the siege," Erekat told The Associated Press.\nErekat said Arafat's office building was on the verge of collapse.\nPalestinian legislator Hatem Abdel Khader, who spoke to Arafat by telephone on Sunday, said the Palestinian leader was not in the mood for concessions. "I will not kneel before Sharon, or will raise a white flag to Sharon," Arafat said, according to Abdel Khader.\nIsrael has said Arafat is not a target, but demands the surrender of everyone in his office, alleging that suspected terrorists are hiding inside.\n"As long as they are not put on trial before their maker or before a judge, we will not end the siege," said a Sharon adviser, Raanan Gissin.\nSharon hinted that Israel might soon launch an offensive in the Gaza Strip, where senior leaders of Hamas are based. The Islamic militant group claimed responsibility for the Tel Aviv bus bombing that triggered the assault on Arafat's office.\n"Gaza serves as a center for Hamas," Sharon said Monday. "The day will come, as soon as we get the necessary troops together, that we will have to do this to strike against Hamas and prevent its ability to act."\nThe spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, urged Arafat not to give in. "My message to Arafat is don't give up. The only thing that Israel understands is force."\nThe Palestinians asked for international help.\nArafat aide Nabil Abu Rdeneh, speaking by telephone to AP from the surrounded building, said the Security Council must act. "This is a dangerous and unacceptable situation," he said.\nIsraeli military bulldozers pulled out of the city-block-sized compound after nightfall Sunday, the army said. Arafat's office, where he and his aides are confined to four rooms, is the only building still intact and is surrounded by three layers of barbed wire and partially by a trench.\nOn Sunday, four Palestinians were killed during confrontations between demonstrators and soldiers. A fifth, a 13-year-old boy, was shot dead by troops, a British activist who witnessed the killing said. Military officials said Baha Albahsh set himself alight while handling a fire bomb, but a Palestinian doctor said he was killed by a gunshot in the chest.\nIsraelis were divided over the operation against Arafat. Some hardline Cabinet Ministers urged Sharon to expel Arafat. Interviewed Sunday on CNN, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres confirmed for the first time that in an emergency session after the suicide bombing, Israel's Cabinet considered expelling Arafat.\n"We don't want to expel him, we don't want to kill him, we don't want to hurt him," Peres said. "There was a vote in the government. The majority of the government decided against expulsion"