Amid threats of renewed violence in the Middle East, the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Benjamin Netanyahu, received a cool welcome in Washington where he discussed his proposals for troop withdrawals from the West Bank with President Clinton.
It was the first meeting between the two leaders since Mr Clinton refused to meet Mr Netanyahu last November in Los Angeles where they both had engagements. But the White House denied that the Israeli prime minister was being snubbed again this time by not being invited to stay in Blair House, the presidential guest house.
The Vice-President, Mr Al Gore, lunched later with Mr Netanyahu. Mr Gore is said to be pressing for a more conciliatory tone towards the Israeli government where the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, has been urging a harder line after the 10-month stalemate in the peace process.
US officials had low expectations of results from yesterday's meeting. Mr Netanyahu had already indicated he would offer only minimal withdrawals from the West Bank until Israel is satisfied that the Palestinian Authority will crack down more severely on terrorism.
The Palestinian leader, Mr Yasser Arafat, will be in Washington tomorrow for a separate round of talks with President Clinton. He might now visit the Holocaust Museum in spite of its initial refusal to accord him VIP treatment.
This refusal angered the State Department, which had arranged for the visit, and pressure was put on the federally-funded museum to treat Mr Arafat as a head of government.
President Clinton yesterday rejected Mr Arafat's warning of a new outbreak of violence if his demands for a Palestinian state on the West Bank continue to be rejected.
"I believe it is very much in the interest of Mr Arafat and the Palestinians to seek to resolve this," Mr Clinton said at the start of his meeting with Mr Netanyahu.
The atmosphere was described in one report as "rather tense" as the two leaders posed for photographs before the meeting began.
"I think Israel wants peace and a resolution of this," Mr Clinton said. "We are going to work hard to make progress." He said he would not use "pressure" on Mr Netanyahu to make progress. "I would not use that word. What we ought to talk about is what both sides can do now" to get the peace process going again.
Mr Netanyahu would not spell out for reporters what his proposals for withdrawal of troops from the West Bank are at this stage. He said it would be "a withdrawal that will assure our defences".
The US is said to want about 15 per cent of the West Bank handed back to the Palestinians now, in accordance with the Oslo Agreements. But Israel is said to be ready to concede less than 10 per cent.
Mr Netanyahu caused some surprise by first meeting with the Speaker of Congress, Mr Newt Gingrich, and addressing a group called Voices United for Israel, dominated by right-wing Christian groups usually hostile to President Clinton.