Jerusalem — Special U.S. envoy Anthony Zinni began his second visit to the Mideast on Thursday with the first of four days of meetings to coax the Israelis and Palestinians into turning three weeks of relative quiet into a lasting cease-fire.
The Israelis greeted Zinni by withdrawing army forces from several Palestinian cities, although armored vehicles remained overlooking Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah, and his aides dismissed the withdrawal as a "fake," cosmetic measure to appease the American envoy.
Before dawn Thursday, Israeli commandos raided two West Bank villages and arrested five Palestinian militants there. At least two of the detainees were from the Hamas and Islamic Jihad factions that were behind a rash of bombings during Zinni's first visit in December.
U.S. officials say Zinni's mission is to intensify pressure on Arafat to go further with a police crackdown on anti-Israel radicals and to persuade Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to ease restrictions on Palestinians and soften his vow not to negotiate until after a seven-day period of absolute calm.
Attacks against Israel have fallen off sharply since Arafat publicly called for a cease-fire in a televised address almost three weeks ago. But Sharon's government says that Arafat and his security forces have not gone far enough in arresting radicals and dismantling their infrastructure.
"A lessening of the scope of attacks can be seen in the field, (but) Arafat and the Palestinian Authority have still not dealt with the terrorist infrastructure in a fundamental way," said Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer. "Additional effort on their part is required."
In anticipation of Zinni's visit, both sides pledged commitment to implementing the so-called Mitchell plan that lays out steps for a cease-fire.
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