White House officials Stephen Hadley and Elliot Abrams and Assistant Secretary of State William Burns met senior Israeli officials ahead of talks with Sharon. They were also expected to see Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie.

In Bethlehem, Palestinian witnesses said 12 men, mostly known militants from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades that make up part of President Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction, were detained in the city's mental hospital during an Israeli raid.

The army said there were no casualties and that the militants had been meeting at the hospital to plan attacks against Israelis.

Political sources said Sharon hoped the latest discussions over his plan to remove soldiers and settlers from most of Gaza and some of the West Bank would wrap up understandings before his April 14 talks with President Bush in Washington.

"Israel will be negotiating with the Americans over what they will get in exchange for withdrawal from Gaza and four settlements in the West Bank," said one senior political source.

Sharon and Bush, the source said, would exchange letters of guarantee on the pullout plan, but the United States would not commit itself to assuring the future of West Bank settlement blocs that Israel wants to keep.

Commenting on the Bethlehem raid, an Israeli army officer said troops surrounded the hospital before dawn and called on the gunmen to surrender. "They opened fire from inside. We traded gunfire for about an hour," the officer said.

Israeli fire left gaping holes in walls and chunks of plaster littering the corridors where nurses comforted shaken patients, witnesses said. The Palestinians surrendered after the firing stopped.