Israeli Prime Minister Mr Ehud Barak has decided not to hold a summit with Palestinian President Yasser Arafat before Israel's prime ministerial election on February 6th.
Prime Minister Barak decided not to meet Mr Arafat, and to resume diplomatic contacts with the Palestinian, only after the elections in Israel, an Israeli political source said.
A Palestinian response was not immediately available.
International efforts had been under way to arrange a meeting between the two leaders in the hope that they would at least make a declaration of the state of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks before the election, which opinion polls suggest Mr Barak will lose to right-winger Mr Ariel Sharon.
The political source said Mr Barak's decision had taken into account continuing violence on the part of the Palestinians and the killing of an Israeli in the West Bank today.
Meanwhile the latest Israeli opinion poll gave the leader of the opposition Likud Party a 19-point lead over Mr Barak.
In a survey of 673 Israelis yesterday, pollster Mr Rafi Smith said Mr Sharon got 46 per cent of the vote compared to Mr Barak's 27 per cent. The gap stayed in the 17-22 per cent range - where it has been for several weeks.
In a Smith Institute poll due out tomorrow in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, Mr Sharon beat Mr Barak 50 per cent to 30 per cent, with 20 per cent of the electorate undecided or planning not to vote for anybody.
In the 1999 general election, 95 percent of Israeli Arabs - 12.3 per cent of the electorate - voted for Mr Barak but analysts suggest even if Mr Barak keeps this vote, Mr Sharon’s lead will remain in double figures.
Reuters