US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell said today he was ending a Middle East peace mission without a ceasefire but had been told Israel would end its West Bank offensive within about a week.
Mr Powell said a ceasefire could not be put in place until Israel had withdrawn its forces from Palestinian territory.
"We could have a ceasefire declared today. But what would it mean while one side is still pursuing an operation that they are bringing to a close, but they have not yet brought to a close, and the other side is not yet in a position to respond because the incursion has not yet ended?," he told a news conference.
"So ceasefire is not a relevant term at the moment but it will become relevant, I believe very quickly, when the incursion ends." Mr
Mr Powell said Prime Minister Mr Ariel Sharon had given him a timeline for an Israeli army withdrawal from areas it occupied during the West Bank offensive launched on March 29th after a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings that killed dozens of Israelis.
Earlier after a meeting at the besieged Ramallah headquarters of the Palestinian leader Mr Yasser Arafat, Mr Powell added that Mr Arafat "and the Palestinian Authority can no longer equivocate . . .and they must decide, as the rest of the world has decided, that terrorism must end."
Mr Powell concluded his seven-day Middle East peace mission today and will return to the US this afternoon.
In a separate development, the Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Israel would allow Mr Arafat to attend a proposed Middle East summit supported by the US if he is "committed" to peace.
"It's not a question of personalities. The US should issue invitations for this forum. If Yasser Arafat is committed to peace, not just in words but really committed, then he can be at this conference," said Mr Sharon's spokesman.
Earlier today, Mr Arafat described Israeli troop pullbacks as a sham and one of his aides accused Mr Sharon of torpedoing Mr Powell's peace mission.
Mr Avi Pazner, an aide to the Israeli prime minister, accused Mr Arafat of refusing to sign a ceasefire agreement. Mr Arafat, speaking after a final round of talks with Mr Powell, raged at Israel for confining him to his Ramallah headquarters.
"I have to ask the whole international world, I have to ask President Bush, I have to ask the UN, is this acceptable that I can't go outside from this door?" he said.
He told reporters Israel had announced troop withdrawals from two West Bank cities, only to return, and were also making shameful attacks on Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity.
Israeli tanks still ring Qalqilya and thrust into two more West Bank villages this morning.
In Bethlehem, troops are locked in a lengthy standoff with Palestinians trapped in the Church of the Nativity. Israel has vowed not to storm it, but says militants inside must surrender.
Meanwhile one of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's top security chiefs, Colonel Mohammed Dahlan, accused Washington today of "totally sponsoring the Israel aggression."
He said the failure of Mr Powell to end Israel's West Bank offensive, despite a week of talks, "confirms our belief that the US administration is totally sponsoring Israeli aggression.
"They were not able to fulfil their promises on an immediate withdrawal, which means they are sponsoring the Israeli position," said Colonel Dahlan, who is head of preventive security in the Gaza Strip.
"All Arab leaders should know it is (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon who is deciding on the policies of the Middle East," he warned.