THE MIDDLE EAST: Ceasefire talks in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict were overshadowed yesterday by further violence. The US Vice-President, Mr Dick Cheney, said in Washington he had no immediate plans to meet Mr Yasser Arafat because the Palestinian leader still had not complied with US conditions for curbing Middle East violence.
Observers believe Mr Cheney's position could change at short notice if circumstances changed.
He was speaking in advance of further talks in Israel last night between security chiefs from the two sides, arranged by the US peace envoy to the Middle East, Gen Anthony Zinni. Both teams have agreed in principle to a US ceasefire plan but remain divided on several key issues.
Meanwhile, Israeli troops killed four suspected Palestinian militants after they fired at Jordanian border guards and then slipped across the border into Israel. Elsewhere, an Israeli woman was shot dead while travelling on a West Bank road, and Israeli troops killed a Palestinian policeman in a gun battle near by.
The Jordanian army said several men opened fire on a border patrol overnight and then escaped across the Yarmouk River, which serves as the frontier with Israel. It was reported later that Israeli troops supported by helicopters tracked down and shot dead four infiltrators. The identities of the victims were not known.
The Israeli woman was killed when the bus in which she was travelling came under fire at the entrance to the Jewish settlement of Ateret, near Ramallah in the West Bank. A short time later, Israeli troops shot dead a policeman at a Palestinian checkpoint outside Deir es-Sudan, near Ateret, Palestinian officials said, adding that Israeli troops tried to enter the village.
The Israeli army said its soldiers came under fire while searching for the killers of the Israeli woman.
There is pressure on both sides in the ceasefire talks to reach agreement in advance of the Arab League summit getting underway in Beirut. The summit was intended to focus heavily on the Middle East conflict, but Israel has not so far lifted its travel restrictions on President Arafat.
The Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, said Mr Arafat should be allowed to attend. The Palestinian leader has not left the West Bank town of Ramallah for nearly four months. "The Beirut summit will become the Ramallah summit, with all eyes focused there," Mr Peres told Israeli television. The Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, told his Cabinet he would like to go to the Arab summit to "to state what Israel's position is".
Only three of the 22 members of the Arab League - Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania - have diplomatic ties with Israel.
Meanwhile, the New York Times reported that "US and Israeli intelligence officials have concluded that Mr Arafat has forged a new alliance with Iran, that involves Iranian shipments of heavy weapons and millions of dollars to Palestinian groups that are waging guerrilla war against Israel".
In Damascus, about a million Syrian protesters called on Arab leaders to take strong stands in support of the Palestinian uprising and against US backing for Israel at their summit meeting.