The United States rushed Tuesday to downplay Israeli suggestions that the CIA director, who is due to leave the region later Tuesday, already considered his six-day mission a failure.
"We have had positive constructive discussions with both sides," a US diplomatic official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"We have made a lot of progress on the work plan and we are hoping to receive a positive response from the Palestinians before he leaves."
Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told the European parliament on Tuesday that talks were continuing on proposals by US CIA director George Tenet for ending Mideast violence, according to the agency.
Negotiations are ongoing and "I hope that we can achieve an agreement," Peres said.
"We must give it time... I believe it's not over," he added.
Israeli media had reported on Tuesday afternoon that Tenet had announced he failed in his mission to put an end to the Israeli-Palestinian “violence.”
Israel Radio said the US official blamed the Palestinian National Authority for the failure, due to their refusal to arrest Islamic Jihad and Hamas activists.
Earlier in Jerusalem, a senior Israeli security official told AFP Tenet had told him he believed his mission had been unsuccessful.
"He said his mission failed because the Palestinians didn't accept his plan," the official told AFP.
However, the State Department official said Tenet had called Washington specifically to deny the Israeli interpretation of his comments which were widely reported in the region.
"He said he had never used that kind of language and said both sides had been serious and responsible," the official said.
Meanwhile, Palestinian press reports said that a meeting for the Palestinian leadership was due at 6:00 local time (3:00 GMT) to discuss the latest development.
Nabil Abu Rdeineh, Top aide of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, was quoted as describing the meeting as “crucial.”
Israel demands that the authority send back to jail dozens of Islamist activists blamed for engineering anti-Israeli attacks, who, Israel says, were freed during the Intifada.
Israel has given its backing to a plan by Tenet for a ceasefire with the Palestinians, who, according to the report, gave a “yes, but…” answer to the three-point plan.
"We accepted the Tenet proposal for a complete and unconditional ceasefire," the spokesman for Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Israeli Cabinet Minister Gideon Sa'ar, told Israel Radio, cited by Haaretz newspaper.
The radio reported that Tenet had given Israel and the Palestinians a midday (0900 GMT) deadline for a response to his proposals.
Tenet met with security chiefs from the two sides on Monday night with no apparent signs of progress in reaching an agreement.
Palestinian officials said they first wanted to consult with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat before giving a final answer, AFP said.
On Monday, Tenet was quoted by Haaretz as telling Israeli officials that “Arafat's ceasefire call is a tactical move.”
He said, however, he believed that the Palestinians were serious about reaching a truce.
But Israel’s Deputy Defense Minister Dalia Rabin-Pelossof told Israel Radio that the situation after Monday's meeting "does not raise any great hopes," and said that her expectations of a breakthrough were "very low."
“If Tenet departed the region without any progress having been made, I expect a serious escalation of the fighting,” she said.
For his part, head of the Palestinian preventive security, Jibril Rjoub, warned that the success of the security measures recommended by Tenet would depend on their integration with diplomatic moves, according to AFP.
“Without a firm timetable for implementation of the diplomatic measures included in the program - such as a freeze on settlement construction and an Israeli pullback from part of the West Bank, not a single security measure will succeed on the ground," he said.
According to Israel Radio, the Palestinians tried to introduce a diplomatic element into Monday night's meeting, with Palestinian Cabinet Minister Saeb Erekat attempting to enter the meeting and read a statement.
He was blocked by Shin Bet chief Avi Dichter, who strenuously objected to any effort to give the security meeting a diplomatic flavor, said the radio.
Tenet presented the two sides with a revised proposal that takes some of their reservations into account.
But American sources stressed that the US did not intend to impose its draft agreement on the parties if they could not agree on the terms of a ceasefire themselves.
Israel television added that the "Americans exerted heavy pressure during the meeting so that the Palestinians would accept Tenet's text, and (US Secretary of State) Colin Powell even phoned Arafat to that effect, but did not obtain his consent."
The television station added that the Palestinians had agreed, however, to "pursue efforts in the coming days in an attempt to reach a compromise."
In other diplomatic moves, UN chief Kofi Annan is due to start Tuesday a week-long trip to the Middle East.
Tenet is proposing a six-week cooling-off period to be followed by implementation of confidence-building measures called for by the US-led Mitchell commission on the violence.
The commission last month called for an immediate ceasefire, an Israeli freeze on Jewish settlement building, and full Palestinian efforts to prevent "terrorism" in order to move back to the negotiating table.
Israel is insisting that there must first be a complete halt to violence, while the Palestinians demand that Israel take political measures at the same time.
"We accept the Tenet plan with some modifications to the formulation," an Israeli official told AFP, without elaborating. "The Palestinians want fundamental changes and are posing political conditions." - Albawaba.com
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