Their decision, taken in Gaza by the PLO's second highest body, the Palestine Central Council, reaffirms a pledge made to Israel and the United States, under the terms of the Wye River peace accord.

It will be put to the full Palestine National Council on Monday, at a meeting which is due to be addressed by President Clinton.

Israeli right-wing posters depict President Clinton as a Palestinian

Mr Clinton's visit to Israel and Gaza, beginning on Saturday, is intended to put the faltering peace process back on track. But it is causing controversy before it has even begun.

Israeli right-wingers are preparing to give him a hostile reception - posters have been put up showing the president wearing traditional Palestinian head-dress and urging him to go home. Municipal workers have been told to remove them.

The BBC's Jeremy Bowen in the West Bank: Palestinians' "bitter anger against Israel"

The peace process has looked close to collapse in recent days, with violent confrontations between Palestinian protesters and Israeli soldiers.

On Thursday 2,000 mourners attended the funeral near the West Bank town of Ramallah of a Palestinian teenager killed in a clash with Israeli soldiers on Wednesday.

Jihad Ayyad, 17, was shot in the chest during a protest near the town on Wednesday.

After the funeral, a small group out of supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) took part in a rally in Ramallah. They burned US and Israeli flags and set fire to a dummy of an Israeli soldier, witnesses said.

The family mourn a dead son

Israeli security forces guarded a nearby Jewish settlement. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Israel would halt any unrest with a 'firm hand'.

"Our duty is to activate the Israeli army and security elements against this trouble in the firmest way possible," Mr Netanyahu told Israel Radio.

He accused the Palestinians of bringing about the collapse of the Wye agreement with their own hands.

But there was no repetition of the violence of the previous days.

Week of violence

There have been almost daily street battles over the past week. Palestinians have been demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.

More than 80 people were injured in Wednesday's confrontations, which coincided with the 11th anniversary of the Palestinian uprising.