Cheney 'ready to meet' Arafat

Sharon, left, and Cheney meet the press Tuesday.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said Tuesday he would be willing to meet Yasser Arafat, providing the Palestinian leader implements a cease-fire brokered last year by CIA Director George Tenet.

Cheney, speaking at a joint news conference after talks Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, said the United States would remain "actively engaged" in the Middle East peace process.

"I told the prime minister that I would be ready to meet with Chairman Arafat in the period ahead at a site in the region to be determined," Cheney said.

"The Tenet work plan requires a 100 percent effort by Chairman Arafat to end the violence and the terror, and I would expect the 100 percent effort to begin immediately." (The Tenet plan)

The Palestinians have sought a meeting with senior Bush administration officials on the Mideast crisis but requests have been refused.

Cheney's offer, though conditional, was the first positive signal they have gotten from Washington since the 18-month Al Aqsa Intifada escalated into a pattern of Palestinian terror attacks and Israeli reprisals in December.

Palestinian leaders late Tuesday said they were committed to a "peace option" and pledged to pursue a "detailed implementation of the Mitchell report and the Tenet plan."

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"The Palestinian leadership reaffirms its commitment to a peace option as a mechanism to solving the Palestinian-Israeli problem, and they state their complete commitment to work on solidifying a cease-fire and their commitment to a detailed implementation of the Mitchell report and the Tenet plan," the Palestinian Cabinet said in a statement.

Cheney said it would be up to U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni to determine whether Arafat was meeting the requirements of the Tenet plan, and in turn progress could be made on the Mitchell report. (The Mitchell report)

The flurry of diplomatic activity came as the United States pushed for an end to increased violence since December that resulted in a suspension of relations between the Sharon government and Arafat and in the deaths of more than 100 people in March alone.

Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erakat welcomed Cheney's remarks and said he hoped a deal could be struck soon to implement the Tenet plan.

"We don't have to reinvent anything. Tenet is Tenet. It's very well specified. What's needed now is the timeline and the mechanisms to implement and the periods," said Erakat. "And I hope that we can conclude this as soon as possible."

The Tenet plan, proposed last year, calls for negotiating a cease-fire and urges Israeli and Palestinian security organizations to reaffirm commitments to agreements contained in the Mitchell report.

The Mitchell report, based on agreements made at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, in October 2000, calls for a resumption of security cooperation, a halt to the construction of Jewish settlements in the Palestinian territories, a denunciation of terrorism and resumption of peace talks.

Sharon, meanwhile, said that once a cease-fire was in place he would lift a travel ban on Arafat.

He said this could include allowing Arafat to attend an Arab League meeting in Beirut at the end of the month, where a Saudi peace proposal is expected to be discussed.

Sharon added, however, that if violence breaks out during Arafat's absence, or if he makes a speech that incites violence, Sharon would "have to convene a Cabinet meeting and have to decide what to do."

Israeli forces completed withdrawals overnight from towns in the West Bank and Gaza they had occupied earlier this month in response to a spate of Palestinian terror attacks.

The Palestinians stipulated that before a cease-fire could take place, Israelis must withdraw from those areas, which under the 1993 Oslo peace accords are supposed to be under Palestinian civil and security control. Oslo peace accords

Zinni met Tuesday with Arafat and another security meeting between Israeli and Palestinian officials was scheduled Wednesday with the United States participating.

There was more violence in the midst of the encouraging signs.

An Israeli army officer was killed early Tuesday, three soldiers lightly wounded and two Palestinian gunmen killed in a gunbattle in the northern Jordan Valley, according to a statement from the Israel Defense Forces.