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JERUSALEM (AP) - Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat turned 75 Wednesday, but there were no birthday parties or parades. Arafat spent the day as usual - hunkered down behind sandbags in the shell-pocked compound where he lives and works in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Aides said a few Palestinian officials brought Arafat flowers, but no festivities were planned. Israel has confined Arafat to his Ramallah headquarters for more than two years, and the Israeli government refuses to deal with him, saying he has done nothing to halt Palestinian attacks and is an obstacle to Mideast peace. Palestinians consider Arafat...

<p>RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - Yasser Arafat on Friday promised long-overdue elections in his Fatah movement within a year - responding to growing demands for change - but disgruntled younger activists said they doubt the Palestinian leader will keep his word.</p>

<p>JERUSALEM (AP) - Yasser Arafat, meeting in the West Bank with the leadership of his Fatah party, made clear Sunday he intends to ask parliament speaker Ahmed Qureia to become the new Palestinian prime minister, a Palestinian political source said.</p>

What on earth does Arafat do all day? Since December 2001, Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat has been a virtual prisoner in the muqata (district offices) in Ramallah. It is doubtful whether there is any historical precedent for a situation in which someone who heads a political entity is under house arrest and yet continues to manage affairs of state. During his entire period of detention, Arafat has emerged from his office only on rare occasions. After the prolonged siege of Operation Defensive Shield (in March and April 2002), he paid brief visits to Jenin, Nablus and Bethlehem. On two...

IDF intelligence: Tanzim cell from Nablus carried out TA bombing Gideon Alon, Ha'aretz Correspondent Sunday's double suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that left at least 22 people dead, was carried out by a Tanzim cell from the West Bank city of Nablus, head of research in Military Intelligence, Brigadier General Yossi Kuperwasser said Monday at a Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee. The MI commander said that the cell was also responsible for the terror attacks in recent months in Tel Aviv's old central bus station, the Kfar Sava mall, kibbutz Metzer and Beit She'an. Earlier Monday there was some...