RAMALLAH, May 2: They slept on the floor, rarely bathed, endured nights of gunfire and on some days had only a handful of olives to eat.

But such hardship was considered a privilege by the 40 foreign peace activists, including at least one Israeli, who spent a month holed up with Yasser Arafat in his compound in the West Bank city of Ramallah, encircled by Israeli tanks.

The left-wing activists — mostly Europeans and Americans who made their way into the compound to show solidarity with Arafat and act as his “human shields” — spoke of the Palestinian president in glowing terms.

“All the time he was so determined. It was really impressive. Always himself, always trim, the gun on the table,” said Claude Leostic, the head of the group.

Israeli government spokesman Aryeh Mekel said the activists had been duped by Arafat.

Kevin Skvorak, a 39-year-old American, said Arafat would sometimes drop by to chat. He said they talked about personal and political matters, conditions in the compound and food.

“He patted me very affectionately on the stomach once. And I think I blushed,” Skvorak said.

The army had cut off water and electricity supplies to the compound for much of the siege and for a time prevented the delivery of regular food supplies.

“The first two weeks were really very, very hard. No water, electricity, no food. People lost weight,” Leostic said. “Sometimes it was an apple in the morning, plus an egg in the evening. One glass of water a day. That was the worst.

“We knew that we had made a very difficult choice but it was politically the right choice to make at that time. The cause was just.”

While Israel denied Arafat was a target of its offensive, activists said they feared soldiers in and around the compound would attack and hoped their presence would be a deterrent.

The activists had been a nuisance for the Israeli army ever since they had marched past bewildered soldiers to make their solidarity sit-in with Arafat early on in the Ramallah siege.

Several of their colleagues who tried to get in later were arrested by Israeli police. As for the original 40 activists, an army spokeswoman said no legal action was planned against them if they were to enter Israel.

When the Israeli tanks and troops withdrew, they left behind smashed cars and toppled electricity lines. Broken windows yawned and buildings were perforated with tank shell holes.—Reuters