‘WITHOUT DELAY’
       The subject of the Mideast was expected to dominate discussions between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who arrived at the president’s ranch near Crawford, Texas, this weekend.
       For his part, Powell said Israel should withdraw “without delay” and not use the days before his trip to the region this weekend as a reason to continue incursions that have fed an explosion of violence.
       At a press briefing outside the State Department on Friday, Powell said Bush’s “expectation is that the incursions will stop and a withdrawal process will begin as soon as possible or without delay — whichever formulation you would choose.”
       Powell, who will leave for the region Sunday night, said that he has no plans, as of now, to meet with Arafat. But he noted that Zinni met with Arafat on Friday.

BREAKING THE ISOLATION
       Arafat has been confined to a few rooms in his headquarters by Israeli troops since last Friday. Zinni was the first senior American official to meet with him during his confinement.
       Arafat told Zinni during their 90-minute meeting that the Palestinians support a cease-fire deal negotiated last year by CIA chief George Tenet, according to his deputy Mahmoud Abbas. Israel and the Palestinians have been at odds over the timetable for implementing the agreement. 

Ramallah has been declared a closed military zone by Israel, and Israeli troops fired stun grenades from close range at about two dozen journalists who were outside Arafat’s compound trying to cover the meeting.
       Jerome Marcantetti, a cameraman with the LCI news channel of French broadcaster TF1, said he was slightly injured when an Israeli soldier fired at him after ordering him to leave an area 200 yards from the Church of the Nativity, where he was filming Israeli armored personnel carriers. Marcantetti said X-rays showed a bullet fragment in his right thigh.
       NBC’s Dana Lewis was among the journalists arrested by Israeli forces, who told journalists they were working illegally in a “closed military area.”

HEAVY FIGHTING IN NABLUS
       The day’s heaviest fighting was in the northern West Bank town of Nablus, where smoke from burning vehicles and buildings filled the air as Israeli tanks and helicopter gunships fought pitched battles with hundreds of Palestinian gunmen. Houses in the Balata refugee camp and the winding alleyways of the casbah, or old city, were peppered with heavy machine gun fire. 

Israeli rockets rained on the city’s eastern market district, destroying hundreds of shops and stalls, witnesses said. Gunmen at one point holed up in a small shampoo factory, which was demolished by rockets while civilians living nearby cowered in their homes.
       Palestinian sources and Israeli TV reports said among the dead in Nablus was Nasser Awais, a regional leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade, a Palestinian militia that has claimed responsibility for scores of shooting and bombing attacks against Israelis over the past 18 months of conflict.
       In the town of Tubas, the scene of the latest Israeli incursion, Israeli troops trapped six Palestinian gunmen in a house and then riddled their hideout with tank shells and missiles fired from helicopters, killing them all, witnesses said.
       Later, Palestinian sources confirmed reports identifying the six as members of the militant group Hamas. One of them was Qeis Odwan, who Israel TV called the mastermind of a March 27 attack at a Seder, or ritual meal, at the start of the Passover holiday.
       Israelis bulldozed the building afterward and made people living nearby leave, witnesses said.

DEATH ON A BALCONY
Among at least 35 Palestinians killed in fighting Friday was a 14-year-old girl who had gone out onto her balcony in Tubas to look around. After the Israelis left, Palestinian security officials said three suspected collaborators with Israel, who had been held in the local jail for the past several months, were shot dead by Palestinian police.
       At least one Israeli soldier also died in the fighting. 
       In addition to the two top militants killed Friday, Israel made an apparent attempt on the life of a leader of the Islamic Jihad militant group. Witnesses said an Israeli helicopter fired missiles on a car in the town of Hebron driven by Ziyad Shuweiki, but he escaped.
       At the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, one of Christianity’s holiest sites, a standoff between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen inside continued into a fourth day. Four of about 60 priests trapped in the church came out Friday and left Bethlehem under Israeli escort, the military said.

PRESSURE ON ISRAEL
       One week into its offensive, pressure was building on the Israelis to end the operation. The U.N. Security Council passed a resolution early Friday calling on Israel to withdraw “without delay.” 
       Bush’s speech, marking a significant move toward deeper U.S. involvement, followed a week of criticism from allies throughout the Middle East and Europe, who pressed Washington to be more even-handed and take on a bigger role
       In response, Israel sent conflicting signals. Permission for Arafat to see Zinni was a first sign that Israel might be easing its chokehold. However, Sharon said the military offensive would continue, and Israel Radio said Israeli forces were speeding up their occupation of West Bank cities, hoping to cover as much ground as possible before international pressure forces them to withdraw. Israeli officials and newspaper editorials noted that Bush did not demand an immediate withdrawal from the West Bank and did not provide a timeline.
       The Israeli Foreign Ministry welcomed the Bush initiative. “We note with satisfaction President Bush’s words on the necessity to put an end to terror,” the statement said. 
The Palestinians also welcomed the Bush speech. In a statement, the Palestinian leadership said it accepted Bush’s declarations “without conditions” and criticized Israel’s West Bank campaign.
       The military offensive is Israel’s largest in two decades. It included the call-up of about 30,000 reserve soldiers and a policy of “isolating” Arafat.

LEBANON FRONT 
In southern Lebanon, authorities detained nine armed Palestinians, seized a missile and sent troops on border patrols in the strongest attempt yet to stave off cross-border fire exchanges between Israel and guerrillas, security officials said Friday.
       However, the detentions did not target the Lebanese Hizballah guerrillas, whose attacks this week on Israeli army outposts have provoked Israeli airstrikes and sparked fears of a new Mideast front.
       The guerrillas struck again on Friday, firing rockets and machine guns at Israeli positions in a disputed border area in a fresh bout of fighting. Israel retaliated with airstrikes and artillery. 
       The Israeli army said helicopters were also taking part in fighting with Hizballah.