Israeli ultimatum catches White House by surprise.

Byline: John Diamond

WASHINGTON _ The Clinton administration received no advance warning from Israel that Prime Minister Ehud Barak planned to issue a 48-hour ultimatum demanding an end to the Palestinian protests that have swept Gaza, the West Bank and parts of Israel over the past 10 days, senior administration officials said Saturday.

Clinton abruptly canceled a day of politicking in Ohio and Indiana, the latter where he planned to attend a fundraiser for First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's Senate bid in New York. Instead he spent the day in the Oval Office making an intensive round of phone calls to world leaders, including three to Barak and two to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, searching for ways to quell the violence.

Israel's action forced the Clinton administration's national security apparatus to battle stations. The State Department set up a round-the-clock operations center to monitor developments. Members of the National Security Council met at various times throughout the day. And an exhausted Clinton scrambled to prevent the Mideast peace process, which he has carefully nurtured for months, spin totally out of control.

"For the past two days I've been up day and night _ literally _ I was up all night last night because of the continuing violence in the Mideast and the responsibility that the United States has to get things calmed down," Clinton told the rally in Ohio in a remote hook-up.

Barak's abrupt action placed the administration on the defensive, as Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and other top officials sought unsuccessfully to prevent the United Nations Security Council from passing a resolution criticizing Israel for "excessive use of force" against the Palestinians.

The administration has been reluctant to publicly criticize Israel, and declined to do so Saturday. The issue is particularly sensitive in the United States on the eve of the election, especially in New York where Mrs. Clinton is counting on the Jewish vote to win a Senate seat.