PHOTO – TASR/EPA

JERUSALEM - The Israeli army, under U.S. pressure to end its offensive ahead of a peace mission by Secretary of State Colin Powell, launched new raids in the West Bank on Thursday but said it pulled back from 24 villages. Palestinian officials called the partial withdrawal a publicity stunt, and tanks and troops maintained a tight grip on most of the West Bank‘s most important cities hours before Powell was due to arrive in Israel to try to quell the violence. Israel‘s latest moves sent a mixed message to Washington, the Jewish state‘s chief ally, which has joined an international chorus demanding an immediate end to a 13-day-old military onslaught aimed at rooting out Palestinian militants.

A suicide attack which killed eight Israeli bus passengers last Wednesday and Palestinian charges that 500 of their brethren have been killed in the offensive undermined hopes Powell would be able to staunch the violence.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has rebuked his international critics, including U.S. President George W. Bush. Sharon has pledged to finish the operation as quickly as possible. The Israeli army said it had pulled out of two dozen Palestinian-ruled villages in the past 24 hours, but it gave no indication when it would withdraw from Palestinian cities and other areas it has occupied since the offensive began.

Troops still hold the major population centres of Ramallah, Nablus, Jenin and Bethlehem, where a standoff between soldiers and armed Palestinians continued at the Church of the Nativity.

The Palestinian Authority issued a statement calling on the international community „to dispatch international monitors and to stop these Nazi massacres against our people“. But the White House cautiously welcomed the partial pullout and urged Palestinians and Arab nations to „step up their responsibilities to denounce terrorism“.

Israel launched the offensive on March 29 and says it is aimed at destroying „terror infrastructure“ in the West Bank. The army said a last major pocket of Palestinian resistance in the Jenin camp — scene of some of the worst fighting in the campaign — fell to Israeli troops when about 30 people, most of them armed, surrendered on Thursday. Powell arrived in Jerusalem on Thursday night to seek a ceasefire after more than 18 months of bloodshed.

Wednesday‘s bus bombing near Haifa ended a nine-day lull in attacks inside Israel and undermined Israeli statements that the West Bank offensive had halted suicide attacks. Sharon‘s security cabinet decided the offensive would go on after the bombing, putting Sharon on a collision course with Washington, which provides Israel with $3 billion in annual aid.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said on Wednesday 500 Palestinians had been killed so far in Israel‘s offensive. At least 1,260 Palestinians and 445 Israelis have been killed since the uprising began in September 2000. Reuters