After convening the talks yesterday in a small wooden building on the banks of the Wye river, President Bill Clinton returned to Washington, leaving Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to oversee today's meeting. Clinton intended to stay in touch with her by phone.

Clinton tried to get the summit off to a good start by welcoming the Israeli and Palestinian delegations to the quiet woodlands of the Wye river conference centres, about 112 km east of Washington. He led several hours of talks before serving as host at a late-night dinner.

At centre stage in the closed-door negotiations is an American plan designed to clamp down on terrorists in the West Bank, a key Israeli condition for agreeing to withdraw its troops from a further 13per cent of the land Israel captured in 1967.

``There is hard work ahead,'' Clinton declared in brief remarks to reporters before exchanging greetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and their 20-member delegations of legal, technical and policy experts.

The Israeli and Palestinian delegations are living in residences about half-a-kilometre apart on the wooded 1,100-acre compound dotted with tennis courts, basketball courts and grass fields.

Yesterday's first session included a group meetings of all three delegations, plus separate one-to-one meetings between Clinton and the two leaders. Arafat and Netanyahu did not meet alone but probably will, State Department spokesman James Rubin said.

Rubin refused to discuss the substance of the meetings. He said the first day of meetings showed ``the parties are interested in creating a constructive and pragmatic relationship''.

The summit is expected to conclude on Sunday, but Rubin did not rule out anextension.

Clinton returned to the White House after hosting a dinner for Arafat and Netanyahu. Aides said Clinton stood ready to drop in on the talks during the weekend if it would help. He planned to spend today in Chicago on a fund-raising trip.

Clinton, the Israelis, and the Palestinians flew across the Chesapeake Bay to the Wye River Retreat last afternoon after a 40-minute private meeting in the White House.

Before leaving the White House, Clinton called for a genuine Israeli-Palestinian partnership that ``will stand the test of time''. He urged both leaders to take the long view.

``As in any difficult problem, neither side can expect to win 100 per cent of every point,'' Clinton said.

Once at Wye river, Clinton kept to the theme of modest expectations. ``All of us are determined to keep our energies focused on the talks,'' the president said as he sat down with the two leaders and their senior aides. He said they had agreed not to talk to the media except through their respectivespokesmen.

``We have a lot of work to do, a limited amount of time to do it in, but we're ready to get to work,'' Clinton said.

Albright said the aim was to strike a ``land-for-security'' deal a further withdrawal of Israeli forces from the West Bank in exchange for stronger Palestinian measures to ensure Israeli security. Talks along these lines have been stalled since early 1997, raising the specter of Arafat unilaterally declaring a Palestinian state as early as next May.

Netanyahu's position is that he cannot give up land, which is tangible, in exchange for promises alone.

The US aim is not only to conclude a West Bank agreement but to launch negotiations over such thorny issues as Palestinian demands for a state with its capital in Jerusalem, borders, and refugees.