THE MIDDLE EAST: Acting on an intelligence tip-off, an elite Israeli army unit yesterday captured a high-profile leader of the Palestinian uprising and head of a group that has claimed numerous shooting attacks on Israelis, and of late, suicide bombings.
The arrest came as US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell focused his energies in Beirut and Damascus on dousing rising tensions on the border between Israel and Lebanon, and Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon said he would withdraw troops from most West Bank towns within a week.
Speaking to CNN, Mr Sharon said that: "Altogether, we are on our way out." But the Israeli leader said the pullback would not include Ramallah and Bethlehem, where Israeli troops are engaged in a standoff with some 200 armed Palestinians holed up in the Church of the Nativity.
Mr Marwan Barghouti, who has been hunted by Israel since it launched its West Bank military offensive on March 29th and who has become one of the symbols of the intifada, was arrested without a fight after he was surrounded by Israeli troops and tanks in a home in Ramallah.
Israel has accused the diminutive leader of the Tanzim, the militant wing of Mr Arafat's Fateh movement, who has openly advocated attacks on Israelis, of masterminding terror operations. Israeli security sources said yesterday that Mr Barghouti would be interrogated and then put on trial.
As news of the arrest spread, Palestinian leaders warned that it could lead to further violence. "Killing or humiliating him will bring catastrophes for Israel and will expand the circle of violence," said West Bank security chief Mr Jibril Rajoub.
Buoyed by the detention, Israeli cabinet minister Mr Matan Vilnai said it was proof that Israel was holding true to its commitment to hunt militants, "even if it takes a generation". Mr Powell, meanwhile, warned in Beirut that ongoing cross-border attacks by Hizbullah against Israeli troops could "widen the conflict throughout the region".
In recent weeks, Hizbullah has fired almost daily at Israeli forces on the disputed Shaaba Farms area, and Mr Powell was hoping to convince Lebanon and Syria - the main powerbroker in Lebanon - to rein in the Iranian-backed group.
So far, Israel's military response has been limited, with political leaders fearful of opening another front along the Lebanese border as the army conducts its offensive in the West Bank.
Lebanese officials, at least publicly, were defiant. Foreign Minister Mr Mahmoud Hammoud said Israel was to blame for the escalating violence because it was occupying Arab territory. (When the United Nations confirmed Israel's withdrawal from south Lebanon, it determined that the area was Syrian, not Lebanese territory, and that its future was to be determined in negotiations between Jerusalem and Damascus.)
Mr Powell, who headed back to Israel last night to resume his ceasefire efforts, expressed qualified support for a Mideast peace conference, saying it could take place at a ministerial level - a suggestion that left open the possibility that Mr Arafat would not be present. Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon, who proposed the regional summit idea on Sunday, and who is bent on marginalising Mr Arafat, made it clear he did not believe the Palestinian leader should be invited.
"The conference in and of itself isn't the solution, but it's a way to get the parties together and talking," Mr Powell said.
Arab leaders, including Jordan's King Abdullah, were adamant yesterday that without Mr Arafat a peace summit would be a non-starter - a view that appeared to be echoed by Israeli Foreign Minister Mr Shimon Peres, who replied that "every nation chooses its own leaders" when queried about Mr Sharon's insistence that the Palestinian leader be barred.
Mr Arafat said yesterday he was not opposed to the conference idea, but that Israel first had to withdraw its troops from all Palestinian areas it has invaded in the last two weeks.
Meanwhile, in the Jenin refugee camp, where Palestinians have accused the Israeli army of committing a massacre, residents continued to search for bodies amidst the widespread destruction.
Israel has rejected the Palestinian claim, insisting that dozens, not hundreds of Palestinians, were killed in fierce house-to-house battles, and that almost all were gunmen.