U.S. Envoy Meets With Arafat

U.S. peace envoy Anthony Zinni held talks on Friday with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat at his Ramallah headquarters, just hours after Israeli tanks rumbled out of the West Bank city.

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

Earlier in the day, Zinni held talks with Israel's defense and foreign ministers in the American's latest bid to forge a truce in 18 months of violence.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to end a three-day reoccupation of Ramallah, announced as Zinni arrived on Thursday, drew praise from President Bush.

Speaking in North Carolina, Mr. Bush said the Israeli military withdrawal overnight from Ramallah and two other West Bank cities was a positive development and he was hopeful Zinni would succeed in bringing about a cease-fire in the 17-month conflict.

"I've said that one of the things we've got to do...is to establish the conditions for eventual peace. I appreciate Prime Minister Sharon's decision," Mr. Bush added.

Israel withdrew from three West Bank towns but failed to comply with U.S. demands that it leave all Palestinian-controlled areas to give a boost to an American envoy's truce mission.

In fresh fighting, three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip, including one the army said was trying to plant bombs. Also, a Palestinian woman, three of her children and a nephew were killed in a mysterious explosion in a Gaza refugee camp, and a suspected Palestinian informer for Israel was shot dead by gunmen in the West Bank.

Nevertheless, Zinni said he was confident Israel and the Palestinians can begin implementing a cease-fire deal in the next few days, saying he was "extremely encouraged" by meetings he has held with Israeli and Palestinian officials since his arrival the previous afternoon.

Israel pulled its troops out of the West Bank towns of Ramallah, Tulkarem and Qalqiliya. But troops remained in Bethlehem and the adjacent town of Beit Jalla, and tanks ringed the nearby refugee camps of Dheisheh and Aida. The army said there were no significant troop movements in the Bethlehem area.

After his talks with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, Zinni said that "despite the conditions, I think there are the ingredients here for hope," adding: "My expectation is success."

Peres and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer were also optimistic. Peres said success was possible in Zinni's mission "because both sides want it and need it."

The United States was exerting strong pressure on Israel to leave all Palestinian-controlled areas. Secretary of State Colin Powell made the demand to Ariel Sharon in a phone call this week, and Zinni repeated it in his meeting with the Israeli prime minister late Thursday.

Israeli officials told Zinni that Israeli troops would have to remain in some Palestinian areas in order to prevent attacks on Israelis by militants.

"We explained the need to be there, especially in the absence of anti-terror activities" by Arafat's officials, said Cabinet minister Tsipi Livni, who participated in the meeting.

Palestinian officials ruled out any direct talks with Israel on a cease-fire until troops pulled out of Palestinian-controlled areas.

"Negotiating with the Israelis in the current situation means that we are negotiating with them under the threat of the Israeli tanks," said Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a senior Arafat adviser.

"What is the meaning of leaving Ramallah and they are still in all the other cities, towns and camps?" Arafat said in Ramallah.

Some 20,000 Israeli soldiers had been deployed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in recent days in the largest military operation since the 1982 invasion of Lebanon — a response to a string of attacks on Israelis by Palestinians.

It was not clear how many of the soldiers would remain in the West Bank and Gaza after Friday's redeployment. Around 83 percent of the West Bank is still under Israel's partial or full control.

In the bloodiest period in 18 months of fighting, 185 people have been killed on the Palestinian side and 62 people have been killed on the Israeli side since the beginning of March.