No plans yet for Arafat meeting, Cheney says

Cheney said Arafat hasn't made progress yet toward implementing a cease-fire.

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said Sunday he has no immediate plans to return to the Middle East to meet with Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat.

In an interview on CNN's "Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer," Cheney said the United States was waiting for Arafat to begin carrying out the cease-fire proposal put forward last year by CIA Director George Tenet.

Palestinian and Israeli security officials met Sunday with U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni in hopes of brokering a cease-fire, but the meeting ended without result. The main issue dividing the two sides is the Israeli request for more proof that the Palestinians will act against terror, Israeli defense sources told CNN.

Talks are slated to continue Monday.

Cheney, who recently came back from a Mideast tour, promised to return to the region and meet with Arafat once the Palestinian leader showed a commitment toward implementing the Tenet plan, which calls for a cease-fire, a cooling-off period and a resumption of negotiations. (Tenet plan)

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"If in fact Arafat will do what he in the past has said he will do, if he will actually deliver on the Tenet plan, if he'll move to put a lid on the violence and do what's required," Cheney said, "for example, sharing of intelligence information, take responsibility for securing their own areas so attacks can't be launched against the Israelis and vice versa -- if in fact those steps are actually implemented, then at that point I'll be prepared to meet with Mr. Arafat.

"To date, that hasn't happened, and therefore has been no meeting currently scheduled."

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said Sunday that the Palestinian Authority wanted to see the Tenet plan implemented "as soon as possible."

"We want to revive trust between the two sides. We want to revive hope that peace is doable, because we're paying the heaviest price of all," Erakat told "Fox News Sunday."

During Sunday's interview, Cheney was asked about a report in The New York Times that Arafat has forged a new alliance with Iran. The newspaper, quoting U.S. and Israeli intelligence officials, reported that Iran is shipping heavy weapons and millions of dollars to Palestinian groups fighting Israel.

The vice president said he wouldn't comment on any information from intelligence sources. But he repeated the United States' angry stance over a January arms shipment from Iran, which Israel intercepted in the Red Sea.

Although Arafat maintained he was not involved in the Karine-A shipment, the United States said evidence pointed to Palestinian Authority involvement in the shipment of 50 tons of arms, many of them more advanced than the Palestinians have previously used.

"Whether there was a deeper level of involvement than that, I don't know," Cheney said.

Cheney's comments and this weekend's diplomatic moves occurred against a backdrop of continued violence:

Israeli troops examine the body of a Palestinian shot dead Saturday in Gaza.

The recent violence, which includes a series of Palestinian suicide bombings -- one of which killed three Israelis Thursday in Jerusalem -- has threatened Zinni's diplomatic efforts. The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the military wing of Arafat's Fatah movement, claimed responsibility for the Jerusalem attack.

On a separate issue, Cheney said the Bush administration thinks it would be beneficial if Israel allows Arafat to leave Ramallah and attend the Arab summit that begins Wednesday in Beirut, Lebanon.

If Arafat attends the meeting, it will help assure that attendees will focus on the land-for-peace plan for the Middle East proposed by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah, Cheney said.

The plan calls for Arab countries to normalize relations with Israel if Israel agrees to withdraw to borders that existed before the 1967 Six Day War.

"If that's the focus, I think it will be a positive event," Cheney said.

If Arafat doesn't attend the session, that could be the focus instead, he said.

"I think the general view is that it would be better if he went than if he didn't," the vice president added.

Asked about reports that Israel might not allow Arafat to return home if and when he travels to Beirut, Cheney said he couldn't speak for the Israeli government.

It appears that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon still has reservations about allowing Arafat to attend the summit, while Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres has been quoted as favoring it, Cheney said.

During a regular Sunday morning Israeli Cabinet meeting, officials discussed whether Arafat would be allowed to travel to this week's summit and under what conditions. No decision has been announced.

However, Sharon suggested Sunday that he travel to Beirut in Arafat's place.

"I told him [Cheney] that I think that I should be allowed to speak in front of the summit and explain Israel's positions and plans because, at the end of the day, without Israel, there is no possibility to lead any peace plan," Sharon said.