Mideast parties agree to U.S. cease-fire plan

Palestinians shout outside Arafat's office during his meeting with Tenet.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Both sides in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict have agreed to a U.S. blueprint for a cease-fire after talks between CIA chief George Tenet and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ended early Wednesday.

Palestinians accepted Tenet's proposed steps to implement a cease-fire after late-night talks Tuesday, but Palestinian sources said they rejected a clause proposing a buffer zone between Israeli- and Palestinian-run territory.

Tenet stayed in the Middle East for talks with Arafat despite warning both sides that he would leave the region Tuesday after five days of trying to secure agreement from both sides. A meeting earlier Tuesday between Tenet and Palestinian officials yielded no response to the plan.

Israel agreed to accept the plan in principle earlier Tuesday if the Palestinians agreed as well.

The Palestinians are known to want direct linkage between any cease-fire and the implementation of the Mitchell Committee report on Middle East peace. They also want an Israeli blockade of the Palestinian territories to be lifted at the same time as the cease-fire.

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Mohammad Dahlan, the head of preventative security for the Palestinians, said Tenet and the Palestinians are dealing with all the issues positively and rejecting anything that contradicts the Mitchell report.

The Mitchell Committee -- an international, independent panel led by former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell -- was formed to investigate the Israeli-Palestinian fighting and to propose a solution.

Palestinian officials say Tenet's blueprint is not consistent with the Mitchell report, which calls for a cessation of violence, confidence-building measures by both sides and then a return to peace talks.

Palestinians want a freeze on Israeli settlement activity in Palestinian territories during the early stages of any cease-fire; an end to Israel's closure of Palestinian territories; and a shorter timetable than Tenet's plan recommends.

The Israelis, after a meeting Tuesday morning of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his top military and security chiefs, said they would agree to the Tenet blueprint with some reservations.

Tenet says he plans on leaving soon.

"Israel has accepted the blueprint of Mr. Tenet, and we think it's again in the hands of Mr. Arafat," said Dan Meridor, chairman of Israel's Foreign Affairs and Defense Commission. "The ball [is] in his court."

As the talks continued, Israeli military officials blamed Palestinian gunmen for the killing of a Greek monk Tuesday night outside Jerusalem. The Israeli army said the monk died after being hit by gunfire from a Palestinian car on the road from Jerusalem to Maale Edumim.

U.S. officials who have spoken to Tenet said the CIA director will not consider his trip a failure even if he leaves without an agreement.

"He thinks there remains an opportunity for progress" on security cooperation, one official said, and that U.S. efforts to foster it will continue. But the CIA director believes "he's done what he can do," the official said.