The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, has turned up the diplomatic heat on Israel's government by praising an international commission's call for a freeze on all building at West Bank Jewish settlements.
Mr Powell said that a report on the current Intifada fighting drafted by the Mitchell Commission, an international team led by the former US Senator George Mitchell, was "very fine" and that it "may also give us a launch pad to start a new initiative".
Central to the Mitchell proposals is a call for Israel to stop all building at settlements as part of a ceasefire deal. The Palestinian Authority and the Israeli government have accepted elements of the report. However, Israel's Prime Minister, Mr Ariel Sharon, has ruled out the settlement freeze. An opinion poll in yesterday's Ma'ariv newspaper showed that 55 per cent of Israelis would support a freeze in return for a ceasefire, with 39 per cent opposed.
In more violence yesterday, a 16-year-old Palestinian boy was shot dead by Israeli troops in Gaza. The army said he was in a group throwing stones at troops. Also in Gaza, Israeli tanks entered Palestinian territory, and demolished a police station and five homes from which they said Palestinian gunmen had opened fire.
Hundreds of angry Jordanians fought riot police yesterday in Amman after authorities sealed off most of the capital's central area to foil an anti-Israel rally. Scores of young people were injured.