To: Zeev Hed who wrote (59841 ) 5/1/2002 2:00:14 PM From: Sully- Respond to of 99280 BREAKING NEWS Ramallah prisoner transfer under way Convoy arrives at Arafat compound after deal struck Six Palestinians to be sent to jail in Jericho May 1, 2002 Posted: 1:32 PM EDT (1732 GMT) RAMALLAH, West Bank (CNN) -- A convoy of armored vehicles arrived Wednesday night outside Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah, hours after a deal was finalized to free Arafat from the compound in exchange for the transfer of six Palestinians to international supervision. The convoy was believed to be at the compound to transport the Palestinians to a jail in the West Bank town of Jericho. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, an Arafat spokesman inside the compound, said preparations for the transfer were nearly complete. Under terms of a U.S.-proposed deal, the six will be held at the jail with their custody monitored by a team of U.S. and British security personnel. In exchange, Arafat will be allowed to leave the compound where he has been confined to several rooms since Israel launched its military operation on the West Bank in late March. Arafat has not been allowed by the Israelis to travel outside Ramallah since the first week of December. After U.S. and British diplomats met with Palestinian officials at Arafat's compound, Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said "the deal is in place" and security details would be worked out in the next few hours on the transfer of the six. He said Israeli tanks and troops would leave Ramallah as soon as the prisoner transfer took place. He did not elaborate on the final terms of the deal but said it had been accepted by Arafat. A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Ministry confirmed that after the transfer was completed, Israeli tanks and troops would then begin pulling out from the area around Arafat's compound. (Arafat compound) The six Palestinians wanted by Israel are Arafat's paymaster, Foaud Shubaki; Ahmad Sa'adat, head of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine; and four men wanted for the assassination last October of Israeli Tourism Minister Rechavam Ze'evi. Israel accuses Shubaki of being Arafat's contact with Iran and Iraq and of having arranged a shipment of weapons aboard the vessel Karine-A, which Israel intercepted early this year in the Red Sea. Israel says Sa'adat is responsible for sending the assassins to kill Ze'evi in retaliation for Israel's killing of Abu Ali Mustafa, the previous head of the PFLP. cnn.com