Israeli troops are now leaving from inside Yasser Arafat  compound, but the siege will continue from a short distance away, Israeli radios reported.

　　About 200 Palestinians are inside the Palestinian leader's office. Some of them are wanted by Israel on charges of ordering attacks in which Israelis were killed.

　　Those who are not on the wanted list can leave the compound at any time and will be allowed to go home, Israeli army radio said.

　　However those on the wanted list will be arrested if they come out.

　　The decision came after the United States said the siege was hampering America's efforts to enlist world support for action against Iraq.

　　National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice told Israeli envoy Dov Weisglass that the blockade must be ended forthwith, Israeli media reported Sunday. Weisglass, who has just returned from Washington, reported to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Sunday on his meeting with Rice.

　　Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Bin-Eliezer has proposed that the wanted Palestinians be sent abroad, like those who were besieged by Israeli troops in the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, during an earlier Israeli army sweep against Palestinian militants.

　　However Rice demanded that Israel drop its demand for the expulsion of the wanted Palestinians, Israeli media reported.