Arafat and the exiled Palestinians

The director of the Palestinian general intelligence in Bethlehem Abdullah Dawoud denied that the chairman of the Palestinian Authority Yasser Arafat had played a main role in reaching an agreement to break the Israeli siege from the church of the Nativity in Bethlehem in the West Bank for expelling 13 Palestinians who were besieged inside it.

Col. Dawoud who is one of the exiled Palestinians said in statements he made from Cyprus broadcast on Saturday by the BBC that Arafat refused to discuss this issue and did not take a decision concerning it only after the besieged persons inside the church appealed to him to this effect.

However, criticism has been addressed to Arafat for accepting the agreement to break the siege on the church of the Nativity for expelling 13 Palestinians abroad.