RAMALLAH, West Bank - Bowing to pressure from the United States, the Israeli army pulled out of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound yesterday and ended a 10-day siege that left the complex nearly destroyed.

The last tank turned its turret away from Arafat's office and rumbled away about 2 p.m., kicking up a cloud of dust in its wake. Dozens of Palestinians raced behind it, fought through a small opening in a 6-foot-high coil of barbed wire and rushed to the one building still intact.

A police officer leaned out a window and waved his gun as people outside raised the Palestinian flag over another building that was on the brink of collapse.

Inside, a tired-sounding Arafat complained that Israeli troops had moved back only a few hundred yards.

"This is not a withdrawal," he told reporters. "This is only moving a few meters away. They are trying to deceive the world."

Later, he emerged to greet the crowd. Dwarfed by piles of sandbags on either side of a doorway and facing a wasteland of destruction, he waved briefly, blew kisses and flashed the V-sign for victory. In a statement, he urged militant groups to uphold a cease-fire.

But the 73-year-old leader was not completely free. The Israeli army had withdrawn to positions it held before taking the compound Sept. 19, after a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv killed six people. Israeli forces remained in full control of Ramallah, which has been occupied since June.

Army officials say they have not given up on capturing about 50 suspected militants wanted by Israel and believed to be holed up in Arafat's building. Troops were stationed outside the compound to stop and question everyone who leaves and to arrest those they want.

"We decided today to lift the siege ... but with that to take steps to prevent the escape of the terrorists who are fortifying themselves in the compound," Israeli Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer told Cabinet ministers.

Palestinian officials said last night that most of the wanted men had slipped out. Israeli officials denied this, saying the most senior of the wanted men remained inside.

Israel was obliged to pull out in the face of increasing international criticism, a United Nations resolution that demanded an immediate withdrawal and a series of unusually terse, private statements from U.S. officials that the siege was counterproductive.

U.S. officials were concerned that the siege was diverting attention from the growing crisis with Iraq. It would have been nearly impossible for the United States to persuade the United Nations to pass a tough resolution on Iraq while its close ally Israel flouted a U.N. resolution on Arafat.

"We must not interfere with American moves against Iraq," Ben-Eliezer told the Israeli Cabinet. "Neutralizing Iraq as a threat is of prime interest to the state of Israel."

In Texas, where President Bush was vacationing, the White House praised the Israeli withdrawal but said the Palestinians also should act to promote peace.

"The president is pleased with this development," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said yesterday. "Both parties need to live up to the requirements for peace, stability, as well as reform in the Palestinian Authority."

The Israeli siege had given a boost to Arafat's popularity and stifled internal talk of democratic reforms at a time when the Palestinian leader had lost much of his credibility and was about to be stripped of power by the appointment of a prime minister.

A poll by the Palestinian-owned Jerusalem Media and Communication Center, taken at the height of the siege as Israeli bulldozers were ripping apart buildings, found that nearly 61 percent of respondents expect Arafat to be re-elected in elections scheduled for January. That is up from 47 percent in June.

There also had been growing talk among top Palestinian officials about ending attacks in Israel and continuing the uprising with nonviolent protests. However, even Arafat's harshest critics could not talk about such changes while their leader was trapped by the Israeli army.

But hours after the tanks withdrew, Palestinian legislators issued a statement urging a reassessment as the armed uprising enters its third year. More than 1,600 Palestinians and 623 Israelis have been killed since the intifada began in late September 2000.

But stemming violence might be difficult. The survey that indicated Arafat's resurgence also showed that more than 60 percent of those polled view suicide bombings as a productive way to force Israelis out of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

And Hamas has vowed revenge for Israel's attempted assassination Thursday of the Palestinian militant group's top bomb-maker, Mohammed Deif, in Gaza. Deif apparently escaped, but two of his aides were killed in the helicopter attack.

The focus yesterday, however, was on Arafat. Soldiers left nearby rooftops hours after the Israeli Cabinet's decision, threw sandbags from windows and folded up green mesh used to shade command posts. Finally, the Israeli jeeps, armored personnel carriers and tanks moved away.

Palestinians, some of whom had defied curfews to join demonstrations against Arafat's confinement, raced for the doors, and were greeted by some of the 250 people who emerged to breathe fresh air.

Paramedics backed ambulances into the compound to treat the sick. Garbage trucks hauled away rotting food and refuse that had piled up in the halls. Wives hugged husbands. Palestinians held aloft banners proclaiming victory.

It was the second time this year that Arafat has emerged after an Israeli siege. In April, U.S. officials negotiated an end to his 34-day confinement in the compound, under which six wanted Palestinians were sent to a jail in Jericho under American and British monitors.

The most recent siege was shorter but far more destructive. Soldiers destroyed almost every building in the compound, stopping only under American pressure, just short of their goal of razing every one but Arafat's.

Aside from Arafat's office, two structures remain standing, but are badly damaged. The rest of the compound is a heap of rubble, a prominent symbol of Palestinian independence ruined. The weekend marked the second anniversary of the uprising, and the Palestinian leader spent it at Israeli gunpoint. Arafat was forced to relieve himself in a bucket, sleep on the floor and bicker with soldiers delivering food over cigarette and coffee rations.

Yesterday also was a break for Ramallah residents. The army lifted the curfew for the first time in days, and downtown streets were jammed with people rushing to beauty salons, fruit stands and clothing stores. Before the siege ended, most Palestinian residents had ignored the compound only a few blocks away.

"People are more concerned with getting on with their lives than what happens to Arafat," said Aysar Noufel, a 22-year-old electrician, as he leaned against a car and talked to friends in Manara Square. "Everyone has their own interests. This is the first time that the curfew has been lifted in days, and people need to get to work."

It is a small reflection of the growing unrest in the Palestinian street. People are tired and want the violence to end. A dozen Palestinian women protesting the Israeli hold on the city sat in the shade of three palm trees in Manara Square.

One held a sign with a simple message to soldiers: "Enough. Go home."