Israel denies trilateral talks to take place

JERUSALEM -Israel said today it had agreed to hold US-brokered talks with Palestinians, only to issue a "clarification" after Palestinians denied they would attend, saying no decision had been taken about a meeting.

The apparent retraction came after Palestinians said they would attend only after a full Israeli troop withdrawal from Palestinian-ruled areas.

In its initial statement, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office had said a three-way meeting would be coordinated on Sunday, three days after US envoy Anthony Zinni began a mission to end the worst violence in months of fighting.

It had said it would involve "the senior echelons on both sides headed by Prime Minister Sharon for the purpose of bringing about a declaration of a ceasefire between the two sides and the implementation of the Tenet proposals".

But it subsequently issued a second statement in which it declared, contrary to earlier reports, "no decision has been made regarding the holding of a meeting tomorrow".

Raanan Gissin, Sharon's adviser, said the meeting had been agreed on during talks between Zinni and the Israeli leader at his ranch in southern Israel on Saturday night.

But Sharon's office said in its second statement distributed less than an hour later only that it had been agreed "Zinni would continue" with his measures to cement a ceasefire to stem 17 months of bloodshed.

Palestinian officials said they would not take part in any meeting until Israel withdrew from all Palestinian areas in the West Bank and Gaza that its forces have occupied in recent days in operations it said were to flush out militants.

Zinni's two previous missions have failed after being engulfed by bloodshed. CIA chief George Tenet has proposed a plan for step-by-step moves intended to lead to a ceasefire.

Sharon has held talks in the past with close associates of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, but his presence at such a meeting would be the first time he has directly participated in ceasefire talks aimed at ending the violence.

Israel's pullback from Ramallah and two other West Bank cities, announced shortly before Zinni flew in on Thursday, drew praise from Washington, but Israeli troops remain just outside four other cities.

- REUTERS

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