A Palestinian gunman attacked an Israeli army checkpoint and was shot dead on today, jarring a ceasefire ahead of an Israeli-Palestinian summit to bolster a shaky new Middle East peace plan.
Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas said he would tell Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon later in the day Israel must begin dismantling Jewish settlements, free Palestinian prisoners and lift a clampdown on West Bank cities to advance the process.
"We are still at the beginning of the sensitive political process of implementing the road map," Mr Abbas told the Palestinian parliament after the truce declared by Palestinian factions on Sunday was again rocked by West Bank violence.
An Israeli army spokesman said a Palestinian armed with a pistol opened fire at a military roadblock near the West Bank city of Tulkarm and was shot dead by soldiers.
There were no other casualties or any immediate claim of responsibility. A Bulgarian road worker was killed in a shooting attack on Monday in the West Bank claimed by a cell of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group affiliated with the Fatah faction of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat.
Mr Arafat told reporters Palestinian security forces had arrested those behind the ambush, but did not elaborate.
Israel pulled forces back from much of the Gaza Strip on Sunday and yesterday, restoring general free movement for Palestinians for the first time in two-and-a-half years.
The withdrawal was part of a US-mediated disengagement deal meant to advance the road map, which charts the way to a Palestinian state on Israeli-occupied land by 2005.
Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz confirmed Israel would follow up by handing over the West Bank city of Bethlehem tomorrow, but said details had to be ironed out to ensure Jewish settlers nearby or access to a Jewish shrine would not be endangered.