HIGHLIGTS: Tulkarm Reoccupied
Powell's 2nd.Encounter with Arafat, Wednesday
Two More Hamas Leaders Arrested in Ramallah
(Read photo caption within)

STORY:Intifadha confrontations are continuing despite Israel's suffocating reoccupation of Palestinian cities and towns. Meanwhile, Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday that Israeli occupation troops would press ahead with a campaign against Palestinian Resistance groups in two major West Bank towns despite U.S. pleas for a full withdrawal.
But Sharon told President Bush in a telephone conversation Monday that Israeli troops would, within a week, pull out of Jenin and Nablus, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.

REOCCUPATION OF RAMALLAH & BETHLEHEM INDEFINATE; TULKARM REOCCUPIED

Sharon told CNN that Israeli occupation forces would remain indefinitely in Ramallah, where they surround Palestinian leader Arafat's headquarters, and in Bethlehem until Palestinians occupying one of Christianity's holiest sites surrender for trial or exile.

Early Tuesday Israeli tanks re-entered Tulkarm, one of two towns evacuated April 9.

The Israeli withdrawal was far from the complete rollback that the American government is seeking. The two exceptions are Bethlehem, where Israeli occupation forces are engaged in a standoff with more than 200 armed men in the Church of the Nativity, and Ramallah.

Sharon said Israeli forces will not leave Bethlehem until the standoff is over and will not leave Ramallah until those behind the October assassination of Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi are handed over.

In response, Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo said, "We don't plan to deal with these conditions. He must leave every city that has been reoccupied without any conditions. We are not going to bargain with the Israelis over every town and village."

POWELL'S SECOND ENCOUNTER WITH ARAFAT WEDNESDAY

Secretary of State Colin Powell, meanwhile, continued his efforts to calm regional violence, visiting Lebanon and Syria.
U.S. officials said the next Powell-Arafat meeting would be Wednesday. On Monday, members of Powell's delegation met with Palestinian negotiators in the West Bank town of Jericho.

INTIFADHA CONFRONTATIONS CONTINUE

On Monday, Israeli occupation troops exchanged fire with Palestinians inside the Bethlehem church compound.
Two Palestinian policemen - one seriously wounded several days ago and the other reportedly suffering a nervous breakdown - surrendered, witnesses said. They were the first Palestinians to do so during the 12-day standoff.
Also in Ramallah, Israeli occupation forces arrested two leaders of the militant Hamas, Jamal Tawil and Fayez Abu Wardeh, Palestinians said.

SOURCE: OCC. TERRITORIES: ( News Agencies)

PHOTO CAPTION:


A Palestinian boy looks out of car window while passing an Israeli army position as the curfew is lifted for four hours in the West Bank City of Ramallah, April 15, 2002. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in Beirut Monday for talks with Lebanese leaders on Hizbollah attacks against Israel that have fanned fears of a widening of the Arab-Israeli conflict. REUTERS/Laszlo Balo