Israeli forces raided the West Bank city of Qalqilya this morning despite another call from President Bush to completely pull out from reoccupied Palestinian areas.
The army said troops had detained at least 13 Palestinians suspected of terrorism in the raids through Qalqilya and the villages of Beita, Silt a-Dhar and Jaba'a.
Witnesses said about 15 tanks and armoured personnel carriers pushed into Qalqilya and that soldiers did house-to-house searches after declaring a curfew.
The operation followed talks Mr Bush held at his Texas ranch with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. The prince warned Mr Bush the United States risked grave consequences to its Middle East interests if it did not moderate its support for Israel's crackdown on the Palestinians.
Mr Bush urged Israel to end its sieges in Ramallah and Bethlehem peacefully and conclude a pullout from areas it seized in the West Bank. But he also said Palestinians must do more.
In New York, the United Nations said it was confident a UN fact-finding team set up following Palestinian allegations of massacres in the Jenin refugee camp would arrive in the region as planned by the end of the week.
Israel and the UN resume talks on the scope of the mission today.
Israeli troops surrounded Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat's headquarters in Ramallah on March 29th at the start of the offensive, which Israel said was to root out militants after suicide attacks killed scores of Israelis.
Soldiers also surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, built over the site Christians revere as the birthplace of Jesus. Israel demands that dozens of militants in the shrine surrender for trial or go into exile.