The Israeli Prime Minister-elect, Mr Ariel Sharon, has proposed a non-aggression pact with the Palestinian leadership to end four months of violence. His intervention came against a background of further violent clashes in the Palestinian territories in which a youth was shot dead.
Mr Sharon suggested the truce in an interview published in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper. "Peace talks have to be held when there is no terror and no fire," he said. "I am for an accord on non-aggression, without a timetable but with a table of expectations."
Palestinian hospital officials said Ayman Abu-Hawly (16), a goat-herd, was shot near the Jewish settlement of Kfar Darom and died of his wounds in a Gaza hospital. The youth was the first person to die in Israeli-Palestinian violence since last Tuesday's prime ministerial election
There were prolonged exchanges of fire between Israeli troops and Palestinian snipers after demonstrations in the West Bank towns of Ramallah and Hebron.
Hospital sources said at least 26 Palestinian demonstrators were wounded with live ammunition or rubber-coated metal bullets during clashes in various parts of the West Bank. Two of the wounded were in critical condition.
Mr Sharon also spoke yesterday by telephone, for the first time since his election victory, to the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mr Yasser Arafat. The Palestinian leader congratulated him in a conversation said to have been conducted in "very good atmosphere".
According to Israeli sources, Mr Arafat suggested a resumption of peace talks but Mr Sharon replied there would first have to be an end to violence. It is believed Mr Arafat initiated the telephone call; the two leaders have also exchanged letters since Mr Sharon's election.
The caretaker Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, had originally declared his intention to step down as Labour Party leader and resign from parliament. But now it is understood he will remain in the Knesset, and yesterday he also met Mr Sharon for two hours of talks. Despite a claim from an associate of Mr Sharon that the meeting would cover "coalition issues", a statement from Mr Barak's office afterwards mentioned only a "diplomatic and security update", as well as talks on the transfer of power.
President Bush meanwhile had words of encouragement for the new Israeli leader. "I certainly hope that people recognise a change does not necessarily mean that the peace process won't go forward," Mr Bush told reporters during a visit to an elementary school in Washington. "And I think we ought to take Mr Sharon for his word and that is, he wants to promote peace in the Middle East."
The president looked forward to "watching him put a government together and fulfilling what he said he would do".
The US Secretary of State, Mr Colin Powell, announced he would visit the Middle East later this month, travelling on to Brussels to meet NATO ministers and the President of the European Commission, Mr Romano Prodi.
He expected to meet Mr Arafat, Mr Sharon and Mr Barak. The provisional dates of his tour are February 23rd-27th.
A United Nations commission of inquiry today begins a week-long tour of the Palestinian territories "to investigate human rights violations and breaches of international humanitarian law" in response to accusations of excessive use of force against Israel. Last November, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, who visited the territories, called for international monitors to be sent to the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Foreign ministers from eight Arab countries and the Palestinian Authority will assess the implications of Mr Sharon's election at a meeting in the Jordanian capital, Amman, this weekend. The ministers from Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, Bahrain and the Palestinian Authority have held four meetings since October but have failed to reach final agreement on moves to extend financial support to the Palestinians.