High-level Israeli-Palestinian truce meeting set for today

JERUSALEM -- High-level Israeli-Palestinian truce talks were finally set for today, following several delays and intense U.S. pressure, officials said.

The announcement raised hopes the talks could pave the way for a gradual end to the year of violence that has shattered peace hopes and killed more than 800 people, four-fifths of them Palestinians.

Israel would not confirm the time and place of the meeting between Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, but Palestinian officials said it would be at Gaza airport on Wednesday morning.

The meeting was made possible when Arafat's long-awaited visit to Syria was abruptly called off Tuesday, leaving the Palestinian leader with free time on Wednesday.

In his first interview on Palestinian TV since fighting erupted, Peres said Tuesday that "the meeting was prepared properly, in my view, and it is being held in an atmosphere of agreement between the two sides."

The United States has been pressing hard for such a meeting, and Secretary of State Colin Powell has been in daily telephone contact with leaders from both sides, according to officials.

The Bush administration believes that quelling Israeli-Palestinian violence is essential to its efforts to gain support in the Islamic world for a united offensive against terrorism in response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Although Palestinian-Israeli violence has dropped in recent days, there was no guarantee the meeting would not be scuttled at the last minute, or that it would succeed in cementing a cease-fire.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has demanded 48 hours without Palestinian attacks before any talks can take place.

On Tuesday, Palestinians fired two mortar shells at Israeli positions, the army said. Mortar attacks led Sharon to call off a meeting earlier this week. An Israeli woman was shot and killed Monday in the West Bank.

Israel would limit the meeting agenda, said Sharon aide Raanan Gissin. "If the meeting takes place, it will deal with only one issue: a cease-fire," he said.

Gissin said Israel would ask Arafat to enforce it in stages, starting with the volatile area of Rafah near the Gaza-Egypt border.

The Palestinians have insisted on a broader agenda, especially a timetable for lifting Israeli roadblocks and travel restrictions that have crippled the Palestinian economy.

A Palestinian official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a joint statement at the end of the meeting would establish a one-week period for implementing a cease-fire. It would also include resumption of security talks and a series of follow-up meetings between negotiators.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat said talks should lead to implementing the recommendations of an international commission headed by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell.

He said the recommendations include "lifting the closure and pulling back the Israeli soldiers ... and sending international monitoring to the Palestinian territories."