Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will "never" hand over 20 Palestinians holed up in his besieged office whose surrender is demanded by Israel, a top Palestinian official said, saying that to do so would be "political suicide"."After discussions and consultations with the Palestinian leadership -- and this is not subject to discussion -- the Palestinian leadership will never deal with this issue ... it would be like political suicide," former labour minister Ghassan Khatib told AFP.

"So it's not going to happen. Sharon can keep people under siege as long as he wants," he added.

For his part, Israeli defence ministry spokesman Yarden Vatikai told AFP that the army had not handed the Palestinians a list of the people whose surrender Israel is demanding.

The wanted men "don't need a list," because "they know very well if they are involved in terrorist activity," he charged.
He added that on Saturday, the army had used loudspeakers to order the evacuation of everybody inside Arafat's office.

"Of course, we will check each one of them," Vatikai said, adding that those who are not wanted will be free to go.
Israeli army cuts power, water, phone lines to Arafat office

The Israeli army on Sunday cut off the electricity, water and telephone lines to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's office, where he has been besieged for three days, a Palestinian official said.

"The Israeli army on Sunday cut off the water, electricity and phone lines to the Palestinian president," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, adding that the links had previously been cut but had then been restored.

A member of Arafat's entourage inside his embattled office confirmed that the power had been cut. "The air conditioning is no longer working," he told AFP by mobile phone.

But Israeli defence ministry spokesman Yarden Vatikai categorically denied that anything had been switched off.

"No, the orders from the minister (Labour leader Binyamin Ben Eliezer) are clear. Everything is to function normally -- power, food and water," he said.

The Israeli occupation army has besieged Arafat's office since Thursday, razing every other building in the compound, after back-to-back suicide attacks which killed seven people, plus the two bombers.

PHOTO CAPTION

A Palestinian policeman holds posters of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat during a protest in Gaza City supporting Arafat, who is still inside his largely demolished compound in Ramallah, September 22, 2002. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic