Cease-fire talk comes, then goes

JERUSALEM -- Hopes for a meeting between Israelis and Palestinians to halt nearly 18 months of fighting dissolved in confusion late Saturday.

After U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni met Saturday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Sharon's office said the prime minister would meet with Palestinian leaders today with hopes of jointly declaring a cease-fire.

After the statement, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said he was unaware of any planned meeting, let alone a cease-fire announcement. Sharon's office followed with a clarification, saying "no decision has been made on holding a meeting tomorrow."

Sharon's aides said the announcement was only a statement of "intent."

"We of course are willing, but things have to be worked out," Sharon spokesman Raanan Gissin said.

A U.S. Embassy spokesman said Zinni would continue trying to bring the two sides together today. Zinni and officials on both sides have expressed guarded optimism that progress could be made.

Adding to the momentum for the talks, there was little fighting Saturday. Three Palestinians were killed in fighting in the Gaza Strip, and Israeli troops shot and killed a Palestinian taxi driver in an area where the army had imposed a curfew on Hebron.

Despite the calm, tensions were palpable on both sides after a week of the worst bloodletting in many years. After two straight Saturdays in which suicide bombers struck at the end of the Sabbath, Israelis stayed conspicuously clear of cafes, which they normally pack on Saturday evening.

In Jerusalem, police sealed off a main thoroughfare, King George Street, and used remote-controlled robots to fire at suspicious packages in the streets, tying up traffic and frightening passersby.

Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv, the city's main commercial street which is normally full of activity Saturday night, was virtually deserted. Many cafes were closed.

"Usually at this time we are quite crowded," said Ronnie Laufer, manager of the Cafe Caffit, which has been in business since 1946. "But people are afraid. The only people here are tourists. Every Israeli is home watching the news to see who got killed."

Saturday's late-night negotiating hitch appeared to center on land in Palestinian areas that Israeli troops and tanks captured in a major offensive last week.

The offensive, with a force of 20,000 soldiers and more than 150 tanks, was Israel's largest since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. It capped a period of just more than two weeks in which more than 180 Palestinians and 60 Israelis have been killed.

U.S. officials openly questioned the security benefit of the offensive. After days of U.S. insistence, Israel pulled out of most of the newly captured areas hours before Zinni arrived Thursday.

However, tanks and troops remain in areas around the West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Palestinian officials and some Israeli commentators have suggested the offensive was meant to improve Sharon's bargaining power by forcing the Palestinians to start negotiations over the newly occupied land rather than other, more critical, issues.

Likewise, his office's announcement of a meeting, while showing a willingness to negotiate, was seen by some as an attempt to pressure the Palestinians to hold a meeting while Israel had the upper hand in territory.

For that reason, Palestinians have insisted that no direct talks would be held until the Israelis withdraw from the areas captured in the offensive.

Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat met with his senior advisers late Saturday to plan their next move.

"If the Israelis do not withdraw, I don't think there is any point to holding a meeting," Palestinian spokesman Marwan Kanafani told the BBC television network.

Sharon has met with Palestinian leaders in recent weeks, but the new session would be a more formal effort with U.S. backing.

Zinni has appeared optimistic after his talks with leaders. He met with Arafat and Sharon separately Saturday, the second time he has met with each on his third trip to the region. The envoy also met with Erekat, Palestinian Parliament speaker Abu Ala and cabinet minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Zinni "has grounds to be optimistic."

He noted that Israel had backed off an earlier position there must be seven days of quiet before negotiations could begin.

Peres said that Israel was offering to stop incursions into, and bombings of, Palestinian areas in exchange for Palestinian efforts to rein in militants launching attacks on Israelis.

There also have been reports that Israel might allow U.S. observers to monitor a cease-fire. Palestinians have sought large numbers of international observers.

But within Sharon's coalition government, criticism of cease-fire talks broke out late Saturday. Natan Sharansky, head of a party backed by Russian immigrants, urged Sharon to resist calls for a pullback, until "terrorists" are rounded up and "illegal weapons" confiscated.

Zinni's mediation effort was expected to continue through Tuesday's visit to the region by Vice President Dick Cheney.

-- Cox News Service, Knight Ridder Newspapers, the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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