Egypt's official Middle East News Agency reported that Ben-Ami left Cairo after the two-hour meeting. The Associated Press reported that the two sides remained far apart, and neither appeared to believe they could reach an agreement by the end of President Bill Clinton's term.
Powell, the former Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the Bush administration "won't be standing by idly. We'll be watching, we'll be following it all, we'll be engaging... And we'll be ready to move forward as soon as the parties in the region are ready to move forward."
End of violence sought
The Cairo talks were arranged after a meeting between Ben-Ami and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli and Palestinian officials said.
Israeli sources said Mubarak had suggested the meeting because Arafat was due in Cairo for his own talks with the Egyptian president.
After his meeting with Mubarak, Ben-Ami said that the two had discussed "all issues" while trying to find a solution to four months of violence that has left nearly 400 people dead.
"We are trying to double our efforts in order to bring down the level of violence and perhaps, hopefully, to eliminate it altogether," Ben-Ami said.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society says that 339 of those killed so far were Palestinians, and the Israel Defense Forces says that 44 were Israeli Jews and 13 were Israeli Arabs.
Hopes dwindle for quick agreement
The latest wave of violence began on September 28, and pushed the two sides further away from a comprehensive agreement to end more than five decades of conflict.
Officials expressed doubt that the two sides could reach agreement by February 6 -- when Israeli Prime Minister Ehud
Barak faces a difficult election against hard-line Likud party leader Ariel
Sharon, who opposes almost all concessions proposed to bring the two sides to a peace deal.
"The gaps that exist between us are great in every single issue -- Jerusalem, borders, water, refugees," Erekat said, according to Reuters. "I don't think that we can reach any sort of agreement before January 20 or, for that matter, February 6.
Gaza restrictions eased
On Wednesday, Israel partially lifted travel restrictions imposed in Palestinian-controlled Gaza following the killing on Sunday of a Jewish settler.
Troops opened the main road south past the Netzarim settlement, the Rafah crossing to Egypt for a short time and the Karni crossing to Israel.
Sources said the Gaza airport was also slated for reopening, but there was no confirmation that had taken place.
Israel closed off Gaza on Monday after the body of Jewish settler Roni Tsalah was found shot dead near the greenhouse of the Kfar Yam settlement in Gaza, where he lived and worked.
Fellow settlers from Kfar Yam set off on a rampage of destruction after Tsalah's body was found, torching Palestinian dwellings, crops and cars.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Recent acts of violence in the Middle East:
