TEL AVIV, March 11: Israel said on Monday that Palestinian President Yasser Arafat was free to leave the West Bank city of Ramallah, where its forces have confined him for the past three months.

But a senior Palestinian Authority official said it had been told by Israel that Arafat still could not travel abroad.

Under interim peace deals, Israel controls West Bank and Gaza border crossings and air space.

In a statement, Ariel Sharon’s office said the prime minister had decided “to restrict no longer Arafat’s movements in Palestinian Authority territory” after the arrest at the weekend of the last suspect in the killing of an Israeli minister.—Reuters