Annan leads Mid-east peace drive

Continued clashes have led to more deaths

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan is planning to meet Palestinians and Israelis with the aim of sending some kind of international observer group to the Middle East.

In the latest clashes, a Palestinian gunman and an Israeli soldier died in Gaza on Saturday.

Palestinians have been called on to curb violence

Security Council members believe an unarmed group like the observers who already patrol the city of Hebron might play a valuable role in defusing the tensions in the region.

Originally the Palestinians proposed a 2,000 strong UN force armed with light weapons which would patrol the West Bank and Gaza.

But Israel said it could not accept the idea and the United States made it clear that without Israel's consent it would veto the force.

I appeal to the Israelis to use non-lethal methods of riot control and I appeal to the Palestinians to do all they can to stop the violence

Kofi Annan

Israel has yet to indicate a willingness to accept even an unarmed group but the BBC UN correspondent says Mr Annan has built up a degree of trust with both sides which will prove vital if any progress is to be made.

Mr Annan's task will be to assess what kind of international observer group could prove acceptable to both sides and what the group's precise tasks should be.

Two killed

He told Security Council members his first priority was to stop the violence.

Kofi Annan: First priority is to stop violence

"I appeal to the Israelis to use non-lethal methods of riot control and I appeal to the Palestinians to do all they can to stop the violence."

The council also wants a fact-finding commission, which both sides agreed to during the Sharm el-Sheikh summit, to go to the Middle East as soon as possible.

The commission's role will be to examine what sparked the recent killings but diplomats hope that it too, by its very presence, might help to play a role in damping down the level of violence.

A Palestinian man and an Israeli soldier died on Saturday in a gun-battle started when the Palestinian opened fire on an Israeli military compound in Gaza.

Two other Israeli soldiers were injured in the incident.

Palestinians in Gaza are angry at Israeli blockades

Palestinian sources say that shortly afterwards, Israeli helicopters fired at a security compound in Gaza belonging to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's private guard, but an Israeli army spokesman has denied the report.

Residents in the West Bank, however, said the night had been one of the quietest nights in more than seven weeks of violence, in which more than 240 people have been killed.

On Friday Mr Arafat called for a halt to shooting at Israelis from areas under full Palestinian control.

We are trying our best to get our people to stop shooting

Yasser Arafat

In an interview with Palestinian radio, he said he was doing everything he could to stop the bloodshed.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak gave a lukewarm response, saying he wanted not words but action. He has demanded that Mr Arafat end violent Palestinian protests before any dialogue can resume.

Under a ceasefire accord brokered in Sharm el-Sheikh in October, both sides agreed to issue public statements unequivocally calling for an end to violence.