An Israeli-Palestinian summit was postponed today to ensure the meeting could build on peace hopes spurred by the withdrawal.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had been due to meet tomorrow, a month after Israel completed the withdrawal from the coastal territory, ending 38 years of military rule in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon looks on during a meeting at his office in Jerusalem today
Announcing the delay, Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah said: "The meeting could take place at the end of the month or at the beginning of next month depending on the preparations."
Preparatory talks for the summit failed to resolve differences over Palestinian demands for the release of long-serving prisoners in Israeli jails and a troop pullback from cities in the occupied West Bank.
Mr Abbas is due to meet President Bush at the White House on October 20th to discuss how to move forward along a US-backed peace "road map" stalled by violence.
In bloodshed near the Gaza frontier, Israeli troops shot dead three Palestinians who the army said were spotted crawling near the border fence and ignored calls to halt.
Palestinians later brought their bodies to a Gaza hospital. A Palestinian security official said an investigation showed the young men - Mohammad Odwan, Bassam Gharraba and Issa el-Amour - were unarmed and had intended to sneak into Israel to find work.
The shooting marked the first killings of what the army said were would-be infiltrators since Israel pulled settlers and soldiers out of Gaza.
Commenting on the Palestinians' hopes for the summit, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said they were seeking the release of 20 prisoners who have each spent more than 20 years in Israeli jails and a troop pullback from West Bank cities, beginning in Bethlehem.
Such gestures could improve Mr Abbas's standing among Palestinians ahead of his talks in Washington and a parliamentary election in January in which his mainstream Fatah faction faces a strong challenge from the militant Hamas group.
Israel has balked at freeing Palestinians who have killed its citizens. Mr Sharon, fresh from a leadership battle in his rightist Likud party over the Gaza pullout, is expected to use the summit to press demands that Mr Abbas disarm factions dedicated to destroying Israel.
