America admits Powell's mission unlikely to lead to breakthrough

AMERICA'S task of brokering political talks between Yasser Arafat and Ariel Sharon appeared to be more daunting than ever last night as a sense of gloom descended on Colin Powell's entourage.

With Mr Powell due to arrive in Israel today, officials in Washington conceded that the joint call by international leaders in Madrid for an immediate ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank did little more than show that no one had been able to come up with any new ideas.

One of Mr Powell's 13 rules for success is: "It can be done". But he could be forgiven for thinking that he had been handed "mission impossible" last week and that matters had only got worse since he arrived in the region.

For all the talk of the need to get into "Tenet", the Bush administration's ceasefire plan, and "Mitchell", its outline for talks, American diplomats have been grappling with the reality that even if they agreed to meet, the Israeli and Palestinian leaders would have little to say to each other.