included Shlomo Yanai, a high-ranking army official, and Avraham Dichter, the head of Israel's internal security force Shin Beth.

The Palestinian delegation was headed by intelligence chairman Amin al-Handi, joined by the head of preventive security in Gaza, Mohammed Dahlan, and his counterpart in the West Bank, Jibril Rajub.

The Palestinians and Israelis have contradictory goals for the meeting; the Israelis demand an end to the Intifada, or uprising, that erupted after a controversial Israeli visit to a holy site in east Jerusalem on September 28, while the Palestinians demand Israel stops military action against their people.

Palestinian officials said the head of Egyptian intelligence Omar Seliman was also attending.

Clinton had personally called for this meeting, following talks in Washington last week with Arafat, who agreed to step up efforts toreduce violence "as much as possible" and to resume security cooperation with Israel.

Palestinian officials said the meeting is one of several that have taken place in Egypt since Clinton extracted ceasefire pledges from Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt in mid-October.

Nearly 370 people, the vast majority Palestinians, have died since the Intifada, or uprising, broke out in the Palestinian territories in late September.

Since the 1998 Wye River accord, the CIA has been working to promote cooperation between Israel and the Palestinians on security issues