Crowds hail Arafat in his first post-siege tour

JENIN, West Bank (CNN) -- Surging crowds, some chanting "martyrs by the million," greeted Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat on Monday as he ventured out of the West Bank town of Ramallah for the first time since early December.

Arafat, 73, made his first tour of the West Bank since Israeli forces lifted the siege of his Ramallah compound May 2.

The Palestinian Authority president began in Bethlehem, where he kissed priests from the recently besieged Church of the Nativity and received cheers from Palestinians as he walked through the streets.

Arafat later visited the Jenin refugee camp -- the scene of some of the heaviest fighting during the recent Israeli military campaign -- driving through the area but not getting out of the car and walking. Israel Radio said he did not tour the camp because of security warnings.

Afterward, Arafat met with residents of Jenin and the camp at a municipal building. The Palestinian leader's aides had promised he would speak and everyone would get to shake his hand.

IN-DEPTH  CNN NewsPass Video    •  Palestinian politics  MORE STORIES   •  IDF: Arms workshops destroyed in Rafah  EXTRA INFORMATION   •  Gallery: Palestinian fatalities  RESOURCES   •  Victims of terror   •  TIME.com: Orchestrating a common ground

More than 500 people gathered in a hall intended to hold no more than 300. With Arafat sitting on the dais with families from the refugee camp, the crowd moved forward -- many trying to touch Arafat, others to hand him notes telling of their losses and asking for money.

As the throng pressed toward Arafat, some of his bodyguards got into fistfights with members of the crowd. Finally, the guards lifted Arafat on their shoulders to protect him from the crush of people. Arafat's head bumped the ceiling of the hall.

Handed a microphone, he told the crowd, "We have proved to the whole world we are an invincible people."

The crowd chanted in response: "We are marching to Jerusalem; martyrs by the millions."

Israeli troops went into the Jenin refugee camp in early April, calling it a "fountainhead of suicide bombers." Israel lost 23 soldiers in fierce fighting.

Palestinian leaders initially accused Israel of a massacre. Later, they alleged that the Israelis had committed war crimes at the densely populated camp. The Palestine Red Crescent Society said the bodies of 53 Palestinians had been recovered from the camp and buried. Israel has denied the allegations.

Israeli troops withdrew from the camp and the city of Jenin on April 18, forming a cordon around the area.

The center of the camp was pulverized in the fighting. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan named a fact-finding team to investigate; however, that team was disbanded when the United Nations and the Israeli government could not agree on the the mission's mandate and the composition of the team.

Earlier, Arafat visited the Church of the Nativity, scene of a five-week-long siege between Palestinian gunmen and Israeli forces that ended last week after Palestinian and Israeli negotiators agreed on a deal that would send 13 gunmen Israel called "senior terrorists" into exile.

Arafat traveled from Ramallah in a military helicopter that Jordan donated to the Palestinians. The Israelis destroyed Arafat's helicopters in retaliation for attacks by suicide bombers.

The Israeli army lifted a siege of Arafat's West Bank compound following the transfer of six Palestinians to a Jericho jail under international supervision. Israel wants five of the six men in the October killing of Israeli Tourism Minister Rechavam Ze'evi.