U.S. envoy meets with Arafat; Israel leaves West Bank towns

The Associated Press

RAMALLAH, West Bank -- After a first round of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, U.S. mediator Anthony Zinni was upbeat Friday, saying he believed the two sides could begin implementing a cease-fire in the coming days.

Yet the violence continued; nine Palestinians were killed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including a woman and four children who died in a mysterious explosion.

Israelis and Palestinians remained at odds over the terms of a truce, with Israel rejecting a Palestinian demand for an Israeli withdrawal from all Palestinian-run territory ahead of the resumption of cease-fire negotiations. On Friday, Israel withdrew from three West Bank towns, but remained in two others.

Zinni met for 90 minutes late Friday with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat following separate talks Thursday and Friday with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Israel's foreign and defense ministers.

Zinni, whose previous two truce missions failed amid spiraling violence, told reporters that the meetings so far had been "extremely positive."

"I think in the next few days that we can start on my mission and the implementation of the plan that we have brought," Zinni told reporters.

U.S. pressure

However, the envoy arrived during the bloodiest period yet in 18 months of fighting. In March alone, 188 people were killed on the Palestinian side and 62 people on the Israeli side. March also saw the largest Israeli military operation in a generation, with Israel deploying 20,000 troops in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in response to a string of Palestinian bombings and shootings.

On Friday, under heavy U.S. pressure, Israeli tanks pulled out of the West Bank towns of Ramallah, Tulkarem and Qalqiliya, but remained in Bethlehem and Beit Sahour and ringed the nearby refugee camps of Dheisheh and Aida.