US Secretary of State Colin Powell failed to secure any firm timetable for an end to Israel's crushing military offensive in the West Bank during initial talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon yesterday.
Meanwhile, a young Palestinian woman mingled into a crowd of Jerusalem shoppers on yesterday and detonated a large bomb that killed at least six people.
"I hope we can find a way to come into agreement on this point of the duration of the operations and get back to a track that will lead to a political settlement," said Powell, on a mission to stem 18 months of Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed.
Israel maintained a tight grip on most of the West Bank's important cities, defying US and international pressure to halt the offensive it launched two weeks ago after Palestinian suicide attacks killed dozens of Israelis.
Powell said Israel and the Palestinians must eventually begin peace negotiations and noted there was a "mutual commitment to get to that point."
Speaking at a news conference after talks with Sharon, Powell warned Israel of what he called the long-term strategic consequences of the attacks that have killed at least 200 Palestinians and stoked regional and international anger.
Sharon said at the news conference that Israel was conducting a war against "the Palestinian terrorist infrastructure" and repeated that he hoped to wind up the offensive soon.
Powell plans to see Palestinian President Yasser Arafat today, who is blocked in by Israeli tanks besieging his West Bank compound in Ramallah. The secretary of state is then expected to meet with Sharon again.
A new opinion poll in the Maariv newspaper showed 75 percent of Israelis supported the offensive and that Sharon's approval rating had soared to 59 percent from 35 percent since the operation began.
Palestinians have charged Israel carried out a massacre in Jenin refugee camp, scene of fierce house-to-house fighting this week that ended on Thursday with the surrender of a last group of about 40 gunmen.
They urged Powell to go to Jenin to see for himself, but there was no immediate indication Powell would accept the offer.
Brigadier-General Ron Kitrey, the Israeli military's chief spokesman, denied any massacre had taken place.
After what the Israeli media said was US pressure on Sharon, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher was allowed to meet Arafat in Ramallah yesterday. He was the first Arab foreign minister to see Arafat since the Israeli offensive began.
(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2002)
