Israeli and Palestinian officials held their first talks yesterday since the army imposed a siege on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's West Bank headquarters, but failed to end the four-day-old standoff.
After the talks, the Israeli army briefly opened its tight security cordon around Arafat's devastated presidential complex in Ramallah to let chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat in to brief the Palestinian leader on the meeting.
Erekat said Israeli officials had refused to present him with a list of suspected militants they say are holed up with Arafat and should give themselves up, and demanded Arafat draw up a roster of all those in the compound, identifying militants.
"Arafat rejected the Israeli proposal," Erekat said.
Another Palestinian official said Arafat had demanded talks on political issues as well as military matters with Israel. Arafat also said he wanted the talks to be attended by US representatives.
The failure of the talks dealt a new blow to hopes that the siege would end quickly.
Israeli and Palestinian officials remained entrenched in the positions they have taken since Israeli tanks began the siege last Thursday in response to two suicide bombings that killed seven people in Israel, ending a six-week lull in such attacks.
"I will be here until all the wanted people leave," a senior Israeli military commander told reporters.
Mohammed Dahlan, Arafat's security adviser, retorted: "If Israel believes we will hand over any Palestinian or accept their deportation to Jericho or Gaza or anywhere else, it is wrong. We will not give Israel a way out to save face."
Efforts to launch a diplomatic initiative also floundered. Senior Israeli security sources said Israel did not give EU special representative Miguel Angel Moratinos permission to enter Arafat's compound for talks.
European and US officials have criticized the siege ahead of a UN Security Council debate on the crisis scheduled for yesterday.
The Palestinians, and some Israeli newspapers, say the real aim of the operation codenamed "A Matter of Time" is to oust or exile Arafat. Israel denies this.
Some Israeli newspapers question Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's decision to besiege Arafat's compound rather than try to rein in the Islamic militant group Hamas which has led the suicide bombing campaign.
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