Arafat leaves Ramallah for first time in six months

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat today left the West Bank town of Ramallah for the first time since Israel confined him there six months ago.

At the helipad in his West Bank headquarters, Arafat climbed into a Jordanian air force helicopter that was to fly him to three of the hardest-hit areas in Israel’s six-week military offensive Bethlehem, the battle-scarred Jenin refugee camp and the city of Nablus.