Deaths fuel Mid-East crisis

Clashes in Ramallah broke the three-day calm

Two Palestinians, one a 19-year-old woman, have been killed in separate incidents in the West Bank and Gaza as prospects for renewed Middle East peace negotiations faded.

Israeli soldiers shot dead a young women in the divided city of Hebron, after they said Palestinian gunmen had opened fired on the Jewish settlement of Beit Haggai.

Another Palestinian was killed at the Erez Checkpoint on the Israeli-Gaza border as he tried to cross a security fence near an army post.

US proposals

Israel to concede sovereignty over much of east Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa mosque

Palestinians give up the right of return for Palestinian refugees

Palestinian state on 95% of the West Bank and 100% of the Gaza Strip

In the West Bank city of Ramallah, Israeli troops used teargas and rubber-coated steel bullets to break up angry Palestinian demonstrations denouncing US proposals for a peace agreement.

A top Israeli envoy, Gilead Sher, held talks on Friday evening with President Bill Clinton in Washington to deliver Israel's response to the proposals.

After the talks Mr Sher said there was little chance of a peace agreement before President Clinton leaves office.

"We have long odds for an accord but I think we can achieve something," he said, adding that Mr Clinton would now determine how to proceed with the peace process.

The main obstacle to progress is an apparent polarisation of Palestinian and Israeli positions on Washington's proposal that the Palestinians should waive the right of millions of Palestinian refugees to return to homes in what is now Israel.

Palestinian refugees in Lebaon: The right to return is a sticking point

Palestinian witnesses in Hebron said no shots had been fired at the Jewish settlement before the Israelis opened fire, but children had been playing with firecrackers in the yard of the house.

The dead woman's sister was also seriously injured

The killings are the first in three days, as the conflict was transferred to the diplomatic stage.

More than 350 people, mostly Palestinians, have been killed since the Palestinians launched their uprising in September.

Sharon surge

The Israeli leader Ehud Barak is under increasing pressure as polls published on Friday showed him falling further behind right-wing opposition leader Ariel Sharon ahead of February elections.

Correspondents say the return of violence could benefit Mr Barak's rival. Mr Sharon's key election promise to stop the violence seems to be resonating with Israeli voters.

Hawkish Likud leader Ariel Sharon is ahead in the polls

Two polls published in Israeli newspapers on Friday showed Mr Sharon with 50% support. One had Mr Barak on 22%, while another gave him 28% support.

The polls suggest that former Prime Minister Shimon Peres, also of Mr Barak's Labour party, would stand a better chance against Mr Sharon.

The polls placed them neck-and-neck, and there are rumours that senior Labour figures have asked Mr Barak to stand aside for Mr Peres.

However, the Nobel Prize laureate told Israel Army radio on Thursday that he had rejected appeals to run.

No movement

Mr Barak said on Thursday that his country would never agree to the return of millions of displaced Palestinians.

However, he also said the alternative to peace was an infinite cycle of violence between Israel and the Arab nations.

Mr Barak said that, without a deal, Israel would have to disengage itself from the Palestinian territories - setting up a security zone along the River Jordan and taking steps to protect its settlements.

"I cannot penetrate the soul of Arafat," he told the BBC's Newsnight programme.

"I cannot know in advance whether behind all the masks he's the kind of leader that can reach an agreement."

His comments came after Mr Arafat had said he still hoped for a US-mediated deal before 20 January.