Washington ? Six weeks after President Bush demanded a new Palestinian leadership, his administration welcomed three Cabinet ministers appointed by Yasser Arafat and reaffirmed support Thursday for establishment of a Palestinian state.

CIA Director George J. Tenet will meet Saturday with Palestinian Interior Minister Abdel Razak Yehiyeh amid signs the Bush administration was nearing completion of a plan to tighten security on the West Bank and in Gaza.

“The discussions will be continuing over the next couple of days and we’re anxious to get some specific action started, especially with respect to security,” Secretary of State Colin Powell said after a 75-minute meeting with the three ministers at the State Department.

On Friday, officials of the Agency for International Development will hear the ministers’ plea for more assistance. The head of the Palestinian delegation, Saeb Erekat, said his people were near starvation.

“One-third of the Palestinian people live on handouts,” he said.

Bush called June 24 for the ouster of Arafat as the Palestinians’ leader and his replacement by others “not compromised by terror.” He said the adoption of democratic reforms and an end to corruption were prerequisites for establishing a Palestinian state in mid-2005.

But there was little public mention Thursday of reform and none at all of Arafat as the ministers met at the White House with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and at the State Department with Powell.

The Palestinians called publicly for Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza and said Israel was stifling reform and security by its presence. Yehiyeh said Israel was pursuing a “policy of revenge” that would not stop attacks on Israel.

He said the Palestinians were improving security quietly and appealed to Israel not to retaliate for suicide bombings so the Authority could get the job done.

The former Syrian army officer said he planned to see Tenet, and two administration officials confirmed a meeting was set for Saturday. The aim is a security “plan of action,” said one of the U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Tenet is in charge of U.S. efforts to formulate a plan designed to screen out suicide bombers.

The meetings the three ministers held with Rice and Powell marked the highest-level U.S. contact with the Palestinian Authority since Bush accused it of encouraging terrorism.