JERUSALEM -- The head of Israel's Foreign Intelligence Service secretly met with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director George Tenet last week in Washington, the Israeli daily ***Yedioth Aharonoth*** said on Sunday.

According to the report, Tenet met with Mossad head Efraim Halevy to discuss the planned reforms of the Palestinian authority, in particular the reorganization of its 12 security services under the umbrella of three organizations which will be directly answerable to the political leadership.

Israel has always opposed the United States giving any military assistance to the Palestinian security services, the paper said.

The report also said that Washington sent a message to the Israeli leadership pressing them for guarantees that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be able to return to the West Bank and Gaza after an eventual trip overseas, AFP reported.

Last week, the local media reported that Tenet and Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns would be embarking on a trip to Israel and the Palestinian territories this week, but there was no official confirmation of such a visit.