Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spoke last night with US Secretary of State Colin Powell and briefed him on yesterday\'s attack near Kerem Shalom. Sharon said that the assault was the direct result of Arafat\'s failure to uproot the terrorist infrastructure. Prime Minister Sharon said that whoever thought that agreements between Arafat and the terrorist organizations would make it possible to control the latter, was mistaken.



Powell told Sharon that US Mideast envoy Anthony Zinni would return to Israel in a week to work towards negotiations based on the principle of Israel ceding land to the Arabs in exchange for promises of peace from Arafat. The Israeli-PLO Security Coordinating Committee was to convene today to discuss beginning the Tenet timetable, as a step in the direction of implementing the Mitchell Plan. Among other objectives, the Mitchell Plan calls for total cessation of construction in Jewish towns in Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza).



Regarding the massive arms shipment which the PLO attempted to smuggle into Gaza last week, Powell refused to accept Arafat\'s denial. Prime Minister Sharon said last week that the arms freighter \"casts doubt on any agreement that might be signed with the PLO.\"



Prime Minister Sharon expressed to Powell his regrets over the crash of a US plane in Pakistan.