Savage Offensive Continues; * Powell apparently Out of Touch with Facts of Situation; *Israel Announces Withdrawal from Some Palestinian Villages but Occupies More Towns And a Refugee Camp; * Palestinians Speak of Massacres in Jenin; * An Explosion Near a Jewish Shrine Kills Six People in Tunisia; __

JERUSALEM (Islamweb & News Agencies) -Israel continued to press on with its brutal offensive against a people determined to liberate their occupied land entering two more West Bank town and a refugee camp while announcing at the same time its withdrawn occupation forces from 24 villages. Palestinian officials described the Israeli announcement as a publicity stunt designed to impress US Secretary of State, Colin Powell and his boss at the White house who together with world leaders have been demanding that Israel withdraw from Palestinian territory it reoccupied 12 days ago. Powell who arrived in Israel Thursday night described the announced withdrawal as inadequate.

SAVAGE OFFENSIVE CONTINUES

Israel kept up its sweeping military offensive in the West Bank on Friday despite the arrival of Secretary of State Colin Powell. Israeli tanks and occupation troops maintained a tight grip on most of the West Bank's most important cities.
Israeli forces have forced their way from to house, carrying out mass arrests and mercilessly bombarding civilians in cities, towns and refugee camps with tanks and helicopter gunships. The heaviest toll amongst civilians was in the main refugee camp in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.
There Israeli occupation troops faced bitter resistance until the last major group of about 40 holdouts -- exhausted and nearly out of ammunition -- surrendered on Thursday.

PALESTINIANS SPEAK OF "MASSACRES"

Residents of the Jenin camp have recounted tales of mangled bodies left littering streets and alleyways.
Palestinian officials have accused Israeli forces of carrying out "massacres".
The occupation army says it has killed at least 200 Palestinians, most of them militants, since launching its campaign on March 29, but Palestinian cabinet member Saeb Erekat put the toll at 500.
Tanks and occupation troops showed no sign of budging from the West Bank population centers they still hold. They occupy Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin and Bethlehem, where a standoff between soldiers and armed Palestinians continued at the Church of the Nativity.

POWELL OUT OF TOUCH
In comments indicating that he was apparently out of touch with what was going on in the ground, Powell was upbeat when he arrived in Amman telling g reporters that he was encouraged by the expressions of support that he has been receiving as he traveled to the region.
Powell flew in Jerusalem from Jordan late on Thursday and was due to hold talks in coming days with both Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who is penned in by Israeli armor besieging his West Bank compound in Ramallah.
However, Arab leaders have also made no secret of their feeling that the United States has given its chief Middle East ally too much time and free rein to press ahead with the West Bank onslaught.
Powell said he would hold talks with Arafat on Saturday -- a decision Sharon has called a "tragic mistake." Sharon has called Arafat an enemy and tried to isolate him by surrounding his headquarters with tanks.
The Israeli leader even refused to let European Union envoys visit him there last week, but Israeli officials say they will do nothing to prevent Powell seeing him.
The White House, which has repeatedly demanded Arafat do more to rein in militants, urged Palestinians and Arab nations on Wednesday to "step up their responsibilities to denounce terrorism."
Despite his upbeat assessment, Mideast political analysts say, Powell, adding higher profile to Washington's reactivated Middle East peacemaking role, will face formidable obstacles in his bid to forge a lasting cease-fire as a first step toward reviving negotiations on a final settlement.

FEARS THAT VIOLENCE COULD SPREAD

The latest Israeli-Palestinian bloodletting has raised fears the violence could spread across the region and beyond.
A truck filled with cooking gas exploded near a Jewish shrine on the Tunisian resort island of Djerba, killing six people, including four German tourists, witnesses said.
The Tunisian government struggled to dispel suspicions the explosion at the ancient El Ghriba synagogue was a bombing prompted by Arab anger at Israel's West Bank offensive.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry official said however the blast appeared to be a "deliberate terrorist attack" and not an accident, as Tunisian authorities maintaine