English/Nat
Israeli troops have withdrawn from the town of Ramallah in the West Bank under a hail of stones.
The latest pullout gives Yasser Arafat control over 99 percent of the West Bank's Palestinian population and one-third of its land.
It is Israel's last withdrawal from the West Bank before Palestinian general elections on January 20 and leaves only Hebron still under Israeli troop control.
The pull-out began shortly after 1300 GMT when half a dozen Israeli
jeeps drove out of the Israeli police station in the center of town.
Thousands of Palestinians surrounded the station to see off the Israeli occupiers.
There was an air of celebration as the first jeeps pulled out -- but the jubilation turned sour as crowds started to pelt the jeeps with stones and bottles.
The jeeps kept driving -- for now unable to retaliate in an area that is under the control of the Palestinians themselves.
As soon as they were gone, Palestinians climbed triumphantly to the top of the station and hoisted the Palestinian flag.
Ramallah is the last town to be handed over to Palestinian control before the January 20 Palestinian election.
Under the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord, Israeli troops have withdrawn from seven West Bank towns and more than 400 villages over the past month giving the P-L-O control over more than one-third of the West Bank.
The withdrawals have created a new reality in the Delaware-sized territory after 28 years of Israeli occupation.
Only Hebron is still to be handed over.
The eighth West Bank town due to come under Palestinian control is also the most controversial. The town of 200-thousand Palestinians has a tiny -- and highly vulnerable -- Jewish settlement of 450.
Israeli troops will pull out of most Hebron by the end of March but remain in the downtown area to protect the 450 Jewish settlers living there.
For years, Ramallah was a center of resistance to Israeli occupation.
Just 12 miles north of Jerusalem, it may become Yasser Arafat's future seat of government.
For now, Arafat is still working out of Gaza City in the Gaza Strip.
He said Wednesday that he was satisfied with the way the pull-out was progressing.
SOUNDBITE:
The schedule that we are had agreed upon and that we had signed is going in an accurate way.
SUPER CAPTION: Yasser Arafat, chairman of PLO
He has reason to be -- the pull-out from Ramallah happened one day ahead of schedule.
