Diplomats Are Flocking to Israel, but No Peace Plan Seems in Sight
William J. Burns, the American Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, arrived today, met with the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat in Ramallah tonight and was to see Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Mr. Peres on Friday. But reports from Washington about debates raging within the administration suggest that the Americans really do not have any plan.

"There has been too much suffering and too much death for both Israelis and Palestinians," Mr. Burns told reporters during a stopover in Cairo, where he met with Egypt's president, Hosni Mubarak.

"Humanitarian problems, the daily humiliation that ordinary Palestinians suffer under occupation are getting worse every day," Mr. Burns said.

All week there have been lines lasting hours at the two checkpoints leading from Ramallah to Jerusalem, and new roadblocks have been thrown up in the northern districts of the city. This morning Israeli soldiers fired tear gas and rubber-coated bullet to disperse Palestinians angered by a shutdown of the Kalandia crossing point.

The army set up a new roadblock at a highway intersection near the West Bank village of Hisme at 7 a.m. and the line quickly grew so long that people began abandoning their cars. United for once in frustration, Israeli settlers and Palestinians trudged toward Jerusalem on foot, cursing the soldiers.

In what is certain to shock Israelis, the authorities announced tonight that they had arrested a Palestinian man and his Jewish Israeli wife as prime suspects in the May 22 Rishon le Zion suicide bombing. They were identified as Ibrahim Sarahana, 33, from the Bethlehem area, and Marina Pinski, 26, who immigrated from Russia 11 years ago. They were said to have driven the 16-year old suicide bomber to the mall, which Mr. Sarahana is believed to have chosen as a target.

The army continued its now daily raids into Palestinian territory, with Hebron today's target. Columns of dozens of armored personnel carriers and jeeps backed by tanks entered the West Bank city around 4 a.m. and pulled out by midday. The troops arrested four Palestinians, including an Islamic Jihad leader, Mohammed Sider, whom Palestinian officials said had been the target of two Israeli assassination attempts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/30/international/30CND-MIDE.html