Reflecting the fluidity of the situation, there was a burst of excitement on Saturday evening, when Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesmen said he would meet with senior officials from all sides on Sunday.
The announcement suggested that a cease-fire was imminent, but it perplexed both the Americans and Palestinians, who said there had been no decision to meet. Sharon later backtracked.
The apparent false alarm highlighted the sense of expectation surrounding the Zinni mission, just two days after his arrival in the region.
A senior aide to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Nabil Aburdeineh, said the Palestinians would not attend any trilateral security or political meetings until the Israelis made a full withdrawal from Palestinian-controlled areas in the West Bank and Gaza.
The Israelis pulled their tanks and troops out of Ramallah and most other Palestinian areas Thursday but remained inside Bethlehem and neighboring villages. They said they would remain until the Palestinians put a stop to shooting from there into nearby Jewish housing.
While Zinni was undertaking his negotiations here, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney visited Saudi Arabia to discuss a possible U.S. military campaign against Iraq. But even before he landed, the Saudis joined other Arabs in opposing the idea.
Zinni began Saturday in Ramallah, the unofficial Palestinian capital, at a moment when Israel was under the calm of the Sabbath and the guns were largely stilled through most of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In Ramallah, he met with Yasser Arafat and his senior lieutenants, then traveled to the Negev to meet Sharon at his ranch.
Zinni has given no indication of what specific ideas he is carrying beyond existing U.S. guidelines for a cease-fire and a return to talks. After his two earlier failed missions, the consensus has been that the United States needs some larger idea if a cease-fire is to hold.
The Palestinians in particular insisted that any new talks must go beyond security and give them some assurance that a cease-fire would lead to serious political negotiations.
For their part, the Israelis pressed for some gesture from the Palestinians in response to the withdrawal from Palestinian-controlled areas.
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