A student today described her dramatic escape from the embattled Palestinian town of Ramallah.

Salma Karmi was one of a group from Sussex University which became trapped in the West Bank when the security situation broke down, with gun battles raging near Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound.

Salma, 21, said five other students from the university were still on the West Bank.

From her refuge in East Jerusalem, she told The Argus she feared she would be shot as she walked around tanks waving her British passport in the air as she and others attempted to cross a checkpoint out of Ramallah.

The second-year human sciences student said she felt unhappy leaving her five colleagues behind.

She said the group discussed who should try to leave the area before the escape was launched.

The group went to the area on a fact-finding mission and to help with taking medical and food aid into the West Bank.

But they became trapped in the area as tensions and violence increased in recent days.

Salma said: "We escaped by the skin of our teeth but I didn't feel happy about leaving. It might sound strange to people back at home but emotionally and morally I feel obliged to be there."

She escaped after the group contacted an ambulance which was working as part of the aid agency.

The driver agreed to put them in the back and take them through the streets to the checkpoint, which is known as a flashpoint for violence and shootings.

Salma said: "I did fear for my life. The curfew had been lifted last night but we were warned that some of the Israelis may not have known about the curfew and there was a risk we could have been shot.

"We held our passports up in the air as we walked around these huge tanks. We could have been shot."

Salma said Palestinians were dying from starvation and from a lack of medical supplies.

The five Sussex students remain in Ramallah and Salma is trying to contact them. She does not know when she will come home.

Students from the university today planned to demonstrate outside the House of Commons to urge MPs to take action to protect Britons and Palestinians in Palestine.