U.S. envoy Zinni arrives in Middle East

By Jerrold Kessel
CNN Correspondent

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni returned to the region Thursday, attempting once again to get Israelis and Palestinians back to the negotiating table.

After his arrival, Zinni went immediately into a meeting with Israeli security officials. Israel Army Radio reported Zinni wants Israeli and Palestinian security officials to meet Sunday.

Prior to his arrival, Israeli forces went into Palestinian-controlled territory at Hebron and arrested four people the Israel Defense Forces said had ties to Islamic Jihad.

In addition, the IDF began withdrawing forces from the West Bank towns of Qalqilya, Jenin, Hebron and Tulkarem and lifting restrictions at some checkpoints, including several in Ramallah.

Israeli troops, however, remained stationed near the headquarters of Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

Palestinian officials dismissed the pullbacks and easing of conditions at checkpoints, saying they were cosmetic in some cases and untrue in others.

Meanwhile, Zinni will meet Friday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at his Negev Desert farm. Israel's Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Defense Minister Binyamin Ben Eliezer will join Sharon and Zinni, according to Israeli sources.

The U.S. envoy is scheduled to meet with Arafat later Friday and is expected to ask the Palestinian leader to do more to curb violence.

Zinni, a retired Marine general, broke off his first Mideast mission in December amid a rise in violence, including a series of attacks on Israeli civilians by Palestinian militants and the assassination of an Israeli Cabinet minister. At the time, U.S. officials criticized Arafat for not doing enough to prevent such attacks.

Sharon, Peres split on negotiations

As Zinni arrives, there is a public split between Sharon and Peres over whether negotiations with the Palestinians should resume.

In remarks to reporters Wednesday, Peres noted the falloff in attacks on Israelis since Arafat called for a stop to them on December 16.

Peres said he believed that if there were no attacks during Zinni's four-day visit, work could resume on a cease-fire agreement.

Sharon has refused to allow Arafat to travel until he arrests four men Israel says were responsible for the assassination of Israeli Cabinet member Rechavam Ze'evi.

Sharon said the pressure had to be kept on Arafat. Arafat has come under increasing pressure from the United States, Israel and Europe to crack down on terrorists in territory under Palestinian control since a string of suicide attacks against Israelis began in early December.

The terror bombings prompted the Israeli Cabinet to cut ties with Arafat and sanction retaliatory strikes on the West Bank and Gaza.

Sharon said Thursday that Israel will not resume negotiations until there is a seven-day period of "complete quiet." Israeli Justice Minister Meir Sheetrit said Israel cannot compromise on the seven-day period.

Israeli official cancels U.S. visit

The chief of the Israeli general staff, Lt. Gen. Shaul Mofaz, who canceled a trip to Washington so he could meet with Zinni, said he believed Zinni would be able to make more progress now than he did on his last trip.

Mofaz told reporters the Palestinian Authority has not done enough to curb terrorist groups, but he believed Zinni could persuade Arafat to do so.

During Zinni's last visit in December, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and the militant wing of Hamas set off a series of terror bombings in Jerusalem, Haifa, and Emanuel.

After Arafat's call for a halt, Hamas said it would not launch terror attacks inside Israel. Islamic Jihad said it would do nothing to disrupt Palestinian unity, believed to be a signal its attacks would stop.

Since then, violent incidents have dropped by about 50 percent, Israeli officials have said.

Hamas is an Islamic fundamentalist group known among Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza for activities such as building schools, hospitals and helping the community in social and religious ways. Hamas' military wing, Izzedine al Quassam, has carried out military and terrorist operations against Israelis.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad is a militant group dedicated to the creation of an Islamic Palestinian state and the destruction of Israel.

New measures for West Bank, Gaza

In another development, Israel's defense minister issued on Thursday security and civilian measures for the West Bank and Gaza, saying in a statement he hoped they would restore "calm to the area."

In return, Ben Eliezer called on the Palestinian Authority in a statement to carry out "intensive activity against the terror infrastructure" so peace plans could be implemented.

"These measures began last night and will continue throughout the day," the statement said.

The announcement came only hours after the Israeli army withdrew overnight from Jenin and the A-Tira neighborhood in Ramallah, Israel Defense Forces said Thursday. In addition, IDF said the checkpoint at Ramin has been opened near the city of Tulkarem.

The measures in the defense minister's statement include:

-- Lifting closure from Qalqilya, Tulkarem, Jenin and Hebron. The closure surrounding Ramallah and Nablus will continue.

-- Withdrawal of Israeli forces from areas A in Jenin, Nablus and the neighborhood of Tira in Ramallah, moving tanks back from areas close to the civilian population and easing the pressure at the Kalandia checkpoint.

-- Easing travel restrictions on the roads in the West Bank and the Gaza to Rafah road.

-- Rafah border crossing will operate until midnight.

-- The defense minister has given instructions to allow the movement of Palestinian police to and from the West Bank and Gaza and to allow permanent Palestinian workers to enter at the international border crossings of Allenby and Rafah.