Palestinians accept US ceasefire terms
The Palestinians have accepted US terms for a ceasefire agreement with Israel, according to a Bush administration official.
CIA Director George Tenet reached the accord after midnight in talks with Palestinian officials in Ramallah on the West Bank, said the official.
Earlier, Israel had agreed to Mr Tenet's proposal to make an 11-day ceasefire a lasting one.
This could open the door to so called confidence-building measures, designed to lead ultimately to new peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians.
Mr Tenet had packed his bags earlier and officials in the administration of US President George W Bush had said he would fly home without an accord.
But hours later, he resumed talks with the Palestinians and the same officials said it was an evolving situation and that Mr Tenet's travel plans were uncertain.
The CIA director's high-profile role marked a shift in Mr Bush's policy and it appeared to have paid off.
Mr Tenet's peacemaking efforts under Bill Clinton ultimately failed when Yasser Arafat declined to accept an agreement that included a state, most of the West Bank and Gaza and control over parts of Jerusalem for a capital.
The new Bush administration decided the CIA director should not be engaged so directly in the peacemaking process. But when violence sent peace hopes into a tailspin, Mr Tenet was assigned to go the region and talk to the two sides about security arrangements.
Israel had accepted Mr Tenet's proposal for maintaining the ceasefire and going on to "confidence-building" measures, but the Palestinians initially withheld their approval.
