Palestinian President Mr Yasser Arafat said he will give Israel's newly elected leader, Mr Ariel Sharon, a chance to show his peacemaking credentials as violence flared in the West Bank and Gaza Strip today.
Mr Arafat spoke to Reuters as Mr Sharon pushed ahead with efforts to forge a national unity government with the centre-left Labour Party, a partnership seen by many as being the best chance for peacemaking with the Palestinians.
Violence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip has intensified since Mr Sharon's crushing victory over outgoing Prime Minister Mr Ehud Barak in last Tuesday's election.
In the latest outbreak, a roadside bomb exploded as an armoured Israeli convoy drove along a road near the Kfar Darom Jewish settlement in Gaza early on Sunday, the army said.
Israeli troops opened fire after the blast, but there were no reports of casualties. The bomb attack followed gunbattles between Israeli troops and Palestinians on Friday and Saturday.
The army reported 27 shooting and hand-grenade attacks in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where residents of the Netzarim Jewish settlement took to shelters after a mortar bomb struck a house. Palestinian officials did not confirm the mortar attack.
Mr Arafat said he was keeping a close eye on Sharon's coalition talks and would give the Israeli leader, reviled throughout the Arab world as a warmonger, a chance to prove he was serious about making peace.
"We will judge him according to policies he takes as prime minister and with whom he will form a government," Mr Arafat said. "We have to wait and see."
Reuters