The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, has renewed his call for a Palestinian state to be declared by next May, but did not repeat previous pledges that he would do so unilaterally.

Instead, he called for an agreement with Israel on Palestinian independence.

Mr Arafat was speaking in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, to mark the tenth anniversary of his declaration there renouncing violence and recognising Israel.

He was to have gone on to Norway on Sunday, but the Norwegian foreign ministry said he'd cancelled the visit because of what it described as the critical situation in the Palestinian territories.Israel this week suspended its troop withdrawals from the West Bank -- as agreed under the latest peace deal with the Palestinians -- partly in protest at Mr Arafat's threat to declare independence unilaterally.