Clinton plans further talks with Arafat

More than three hours of meetings with Yasser Arafat at the White House yielded a renewed promise from the Palestinian leader to try to curb the violence that has swept away the goodwill needed for an accord.

White House spokesman Jake Siewert, said, "In the end, words don't matter here. Deeds do".

And in Israel, Prime Minister Ehud Barak said his focus already had shifted from pursuing a negotiated settlement with Mr Arafat, which he said had "no real chance" in the next few weeks, to containing terrorism.

Mr Clinton plans to telephone Mr Barak with a report on his meetings with the Palestinian leader, call Arab leaders as well, and talk to Mr Arafat again, by telephone, in the next day or two, Mr Siewert said.

"I think everyone understands that we have a very narrow window of opportunity here," Mr Siewart told reporters. Declining to claim any progress on inducing Mr Arafat to accept a US outline for a negotiated settlement, Mr Siewert said firmly: "We are going to continue our work."

On containing conflict with Israel, Mr Clinton scored some gains as Mr Arafat "specifically agreed to end or stop or reduce acts of violence," Mr Siewert said. Specifically, he said Mr Arafat had promised cooperation in countering terrorism, to intensify efforts to stop the shootings and to arrest those responsible.

In respect to stemming the violence, Mr Siewert said, the US President's meetings with Mr Arafat were "particularly productive."

Mr Arafat made no statement to reporters. Hassan Abdel Rahman, chief representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the US, called the meetings useful: "There will be further discussions. And there was appreciation by the president for the concerns and explanations of the Palestinian side."