Fresh violence flared in the West Bank and Gaza Strip today as Israel prepared its response to an Egyptian-Jordanian peace initiative that has drawn cautious US interest and Russian praise.
Israeli troops wounded seven Palestinian protesters near the West Bank city of Ramallah, witnesses and medical officials said. One of four hit by live bullets was in critical condition.
Witnesses said a gunbattle erupted after the clashes with Palestinian demonstrators. Troops used heavy machineguns against gunmen shooting from buildings on the edge of Ramallah.
Soldiers firing rubber-coated metal bullets wounded four more Palestinian stonethrowers near the town of Qalqilya.
In the Gaza Strip, Palestinians detonated a roadside bomb at the entrance of a Jewish settlement, lightly wounding an Israeli soldier and a Jewish settler, the Israeli army said.
The Israeli Defence Ministry announced that it would ease an onerous closure of the West Bank and Gaza Strip by allowing another 11,000 Palestinians to return to work in Israel.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon discussed the Egyptian-Jordanian plan with Foreign Minister Shimon Peres, who is due to travel to Cairo and Amman on Sunday to lay out Israel's objections.
A statement from Mr Sharon's office said later that the talks with Egypt and Jordan would aim at bringing about a cessation of terror and violence and as such creating the necessary groundwork for the renewal of political negotiations .
In Amman, a senior Jordanian official said Israel's response to the proposal would test the seriousness of its intentions.