Jerusalem ? Talks aimed at producing a truce between the Israelis and Palestinians ended late Sunday night without visible signs of progress as bloodshed increased, with at least 10 people dying in a series of clashes.

Israeli officials said the talks are expected to continue today.

An Israeli soldier motions for Palestinians waiting to cross the Kalandia checkpoint, between Ramallah and Jerusalem, to move back and wait in line to be processed. Israeli forces are on high alert after a spate of suicide bombings and an inability to reach a cease-fire agreement.

The Sunday truce meeting, chaired by U.S. special envoy Gen. Anthony Zinni, brought the two sides back together after a 48-hour pause in the talks, which have been threatened by a surge of violence, including three suicide bombings, in the last week.

Both sides reported that the retired Marine Corps general was trying to reach a cease-fire in time for Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat to travel Wednesday to an Arab summit in Beirut to discuss a peace proposal prepared by Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

But Arafat will not be able to travel and to return to the Palestinian territories without Israeli permission. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon maintains that Arafat will not be authorized to make the trip unless he agrees to a cease-fire and takes concrete steps to curb Palestinian attacks on Israeli targets.

Angry Palestinian leaders said Arafat intended to go to the summit which would mark his first trip outside the West Bank city of Ramallah since he was confined there by the Israeli government three months ago.

But they said they would not be railroaded into declaring a halt to hostilities simply to free Arafat to travel to Beirut.

“If this issue is going to be like a sword at the neck of Palestinian negotiators to accept the Israeli security conditions, it would be possible to sacrifice going to the summit,” said Mohammed Dahlan, a senior Palestinian official.

Palestinian officials also said the Israeli government could inflame public opinion in Palestinian towns and cities by refusing to allow Arafat to travel and meet with other Arab leaders.

“Israel wants to dictate its conditions to us, but they should know very well that this blackmail will not have any effect on our political decisions,” said Palestinian Information Minister Yasser Abed Rabbo.

Sharon seeks audience

Sharon told his weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday that he was prepared to go to Beirut to present Israel’s position to the assembled Arab leaders.

“I think it would be appropriate that I be permitted to appear before the conference,” he said. “Because in the last analysis, no plan can be carried out without Israel.”

This surprise proposal to turn the meeting into an Arab-Israeli summit was quickly shot down by Arab leaders who said there was no conceivable way that Sharon would be allowed to address them in Beirut.

The Israelis and Palestinians have both said they want to put a cease-fire into place after the bloodiest month of an 18-month conflict that has claimed more than 1,500 lives, but they disagree on a timetable for implementation of a U.S. plan to separate the two sides.

They also have not been able to agree on how much of a cooling off period is needed before there will be a return to political negotiations on finding a long-term solution to the conflict.

The two sides appeared to be close to an agreement seven days ago, but the talks appear to have deadlocked, and the violence on the ground has increased, adding to the atmosphere of accusation and mistrust.

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Sunday there is “a fair chance” an agreement can be reached. He was much more optimistic last week, when he said a ceasefire would probably be in place within 48 hours a prediction that proved far too optimistic.

Peres blamed the surge in violence for the lack of progress in the negotiations.

Bloodshed continues

The killings Sunday happened in a number of small incidents rather than in a single, concentrated attack. There were no reported suicide bombings, but there were a number of vicious clashes throughout the day.

In the morning, Palestinian militants opened fire and killed an Israeli woman driving to a Jewish settlement near the West Bank city of Ramallah. Israeli security forces chasing the attackers killed a Palestinian policeman in a gunfight that ensued.

Later on, Israeli forces discovered a breach in the electronic border fence separating Israel and Jordan near the Sea of Galilee, and commando units with helicopters providing air support tracked and killed four militants believed to have entered Israel to carry out attacks.

Israeli military officials did not identify the four people who were killed but said that they were armed with assault rifles and hand grenades.