1 Israeli and PLO negotiators on Tuesday resumed peace talks halted for more than two weeks by violent attacks on Israelis by radical Islamic opponents of the peace process.
2 The negotiations were renewed following a summit last Thursday by the leaders of Israel, the Palestine Liberation Organization, Jordan and Egypt. PLO chief Yasser Arafat and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel are scheduled to meet again Thursday.
3 Negotiators from both sides said they would work in the Cairo talks on reaching agreement on Palestinian elections as a step toward broadening the autonomy granted by the Israeli-PLO accord.
4 'We at this session will start writing, actually drafting, the agreement,' chief Israeli negotiator Yoel Singer said as he entered the talks at a Cairo hotel.
5 During a break in the afternoon, Singer characterized the discussions as 'very good.' But the chief PLO delegate, Saeb Erekat, said earlier he did not expect an agreement to be reached during the two days of talks.
6 The elections are meant to give more legitimacy to the Palestinian Authority running the autonomous zones in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.
7 The accord, signed by Israel and the PLO in September 1993, also calls for Israeli troops to withdraw from Palestinian towns in the West Bank before the elections, but Israel had backed away from pulling out its troops because of the persistent violence.
8 Singer said nothing about troop withdrawals in statements before the negotiations.
9 'We will certainly begin with the easy things and then advance to the heavier, more difficult items,' he told Israel radio before leaving for Cairo.
10 Erekat repeated his demand that Israeli soldiers be withdrawn from Palestinian towns before the balloting.
11 Talks on broadening Palestinian autonomy have not been held since a Jan. 22 suicide bombing in Israel that killed 21 Israelis. The bombing, claimed by the radical Islamic Jihad group, led to calls by many Israelis for canceling the peace talks altogether.
12 For its part, the PLO has complained about violence against Palestinians and Israel's expansion of Jewish settlements on occupied land.
13 Violence has repeatedly delayed the Cairo negotiations on expanding Palestinian authority into other parts of the West Bank. Since the Israel-PLO accord was signed in September 1993, more than 100 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians and nearly 200 Palestinians have been slain by Israelis.
14 Under the peace accord, Palestinian elections were to be held before July 1994. Talks on a final peace between the two sides are supposed to begin by December.

During a break in the afternoon , Singer characterized the discussions as " very good . " But the chief PLO delegate , Saeb Erekat , said earlier he did not expect an agreement to be reached during the two days of talks .
did not expect an agreement
Why was agreement so far away?