Two sieges fuel tension as Arafat meets U.S. envoy

JERUSALEM Israeli-Palestinian relations settled into a tense stalemate today, as an American envoy met with Yasir Arafat without resolving twin sieges in Ramallah and Bethlehem that are threatening to stir new violence a day after Israel ended its military sweep through the West Bank.

As they maintained their blockade of Palestinian cities, Israeli forces returned today to conducting lethal, pinpoint strikes, killing at least seven Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and losing one soldier.

Palestinian ministers expressed fears that Israeli forces would storm Mr. Arafat's compound in Ramallah, where the meeting with the American envoy took place today, in pursuit of wanted men, a step Israel has not ruled out.

At his wrecked security compound, which Israel attacked in what it called a search for terrorists, Jibril Rajoub, the head of Palestinian preventive security forces in the West Bank, said that security cooperation between Israelis and Palestinians was now impossible.

"I think that the Israelis buried everything," said Mr. Rajoub, whose popularity has declined in part because he was seen by Palestinians as too cooperative with the United States and Israel. "A sea of blood and hatred has been created between us and the Israelis. I don't think that security coordination or bilateral relations with the Israelis is on our agenda right now."