HIGLIGHTS: Powell Leaves with Little to Cheer
Israelis Kill an 11-year old Boy & a Mentally Ill Person
Four Hamas Members Detained in Tulkarm
Israel Reopens Desert Detention Camp
(Read photo caption within)

STORY:Secretary of State Colin Powell who has apparently held his last meeting with Sharon Tuesday said he intended to leave the region, though he has yet to clinch agreement on a cease-fire or an Israeli troop pullout from battle-scarred Palestinian cities. However he also said he was making progress but did not elaborate.

The secretary of state was to meet Arafat in his Ramallah compound, on Wednesday before leaving for Cairo to discuss his mission with Egyptian leaders.

The Palestinians have been telling Powell that no cease-fire can hold while Israeli troops remain in West Bank cities.

SAVAGE OFFENSIVE CONTINUES

Meanwhile, occupation soldiers raided a West Bank town, hunted Resistance men and battled those of them holed up inside Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.

Meanwhile, occupation soldiers withdrew from Tulkarm after launching an incursion during which they detained four members of Hamas and five others.

BOY SHOT DEAD

In the Askar refugee camp near Nablus, occupation troops shot dead an 11-year-old boy, Qusay Abu Aisha, outside his home.

In the Gaza Strip, occupation troops shot dead Younis Abu Gharara, 25, a mentally and physically ill Palestinian.
An official of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for Palestinian refugees said troops wounded four people in Askar camp and the neighboring suburb of Musaken, near Nablus.

The occupation army imposed a curfew on Abu Dis and Eizariyah, two suburbs of Arab east Jerusalem which are under Israeli security control, according to interim peace deals.

GUN BATTLE IN BETHLEHEM

In Bethlehem, heavy gunfire flared briefly at the Church of the Nativity, where Israeli soldiers have been locked in a two-week-old standoff with Palestinian Resistance men holed up inside.

A Reuters correspondent in the area said it was an exchange of fire between armed Palestinians inside and Israeli occupation troops surrounding the church.

But the fighting only lasted about half an hour and the incident ended with no apparent change in the standoff.

ISRAELIS REOPEN DESERT DETENTION CAMP:

Israel reopened a sprawling desert detention camp this week to hold some of the thousands of Palestinians it has rounded up during its 19-day West Bank offensive.

The confirmation came after Associated Press reporters saw resumed activity at the Ketziot camp in the southern Negev Desert. Towering spotlights beamed down on the site and occupation soldiers stood in guard towers. Civilian and military trucks entered and left and bright new Israeli flags and corps banners of the military police hung limply in the baking desert air.

SOURCE: JERUSALEM, (News Agencies)

PHOTO CAPTION:

Israeli occupation soldiers stand guard at an entrance to Ketziot Military Prison, deep in the Negev desert near Israel's border with Egypt, Monday April 15, 2002. Israel has reopened the detention camp to hold some of the thousands of Palestinians it has rounded up during its 19-day sweep through Palestinian towns and refugee camps. (AP Photo/Greg Baker)
- Apr 16 1:04 PM ET