Top Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are scheduled to meet President Bill Clinton early Saturday, despite doubts over whether talks in Washington have yielded progress.
US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met with both sides Friday and was to attend a 9:15 am (1415 GMT) Saturday White House gathering with Clinton, Israeli Foreign Minister Shlomo Ben Ami, and lead Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat.
"We hope that the parties redouble their efforts and do everything they can to help find a way to end the violence and to narrow their differences," said White House spokesman Jake Siewert.
Despite reports in the region of substantial headway on key issues in talks in Washington, Palestinian officials were decidedly pessimistic, and violence flared anew in the West Bank and Gaza, claiming at least four lives.
"Differences still remain ... these remain very challenging issues," said national security spokesman PJ Crowley.
"It's at least encouraging that the sides are back at negotiations. The president will have the opportunity to hear from them where there's been progress, where differences remain and we'll decide to go from here," he added.
An administration official who asked not to be named said the next step "could involve people from the region coming here, or our people going there. We have not made that judgment."
However, in a television interview late Friday, Albright dismissed speculation that she would be traveling to the Middle East to spur the peace talks.
"There are no travel plans," Albright told MSNBC television.
Albright emphasized that time was running out on efforts to reach a peace deal. "Everyone knows there is a window here that will close," she said.
Washington has made ending the violence a priority and another administration official said if it could be quelled and enough progress made towards outlining a peace deal, a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories by a senior US official could occur as early as Wednesday.
US Middle East envoy Dennis Ross or national security adviser Sandy Berger were also possible candidates for the peace role.
Earlier, officials here said that Albright had met with the negotiators "trilaterally and bilaterally" for nearly two hours at Bolling Air Force Base in southeast Washington, where they have been ensconced under a news blackout since Tuesday.
"They had very serious discussions and she heard assessments from each side on where they are and where they need to go," State Department spokesman Philip Reeker told AFP, refusing to characterize the mood of the meetings.
The Israelis and Palestinians were expected to leave late Saturday, officials said.
Palestinian officials have described the talks as in crisis, in stark contrast to other reports that spoke of significant new offers being made by the Israeli side.
Speaking in Gaza, an advisor to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said reports of progress were incorrect.
"It is not accurate what has been said about progress," he told AFP. "There was not serious progress up until this point. It is still too early to talk about progress."
Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo, a member of the Palestinian delegation at Bolling, was quoted in an Arabic newspaper as saying the talks were in a "hard crisis and there has not been progress on any issue."
Clinton, who leaves office on January 20, is anxious to seal a deal before the end of his term and has reportedly suggested January 10 as a date for a summit with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Arafat.
In a Wednesday meeting with Ben Ami and Erakat, Clinton laid out "parameters" of a possible agreement that included suggestions on bridging gaps between the two sides on the most sensitive issues dividing them, Ben Ami said.
But even as talks continued, violence exploded across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, leaving four people dead and an Israeli woman seriously injured in a suicide bomb attack at a restaurant that left seven others hurt, including two seriously.
The casualties brought the number of people killed since violence erupted in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and Israel on September 28 to 356, the vast majority of them Palestinians -- JERUSALEM (AFP)
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