Annan makes 11th-hour peace bid

Palestinian funerals in Beirut: There were calls for revenge

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan is on his way to Tel Aviv to make a personal intervention in the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, hours ahead of an Israeli-set ultimatum for the peace process to be declared over.

The increasingly precarious situation in the Middle East...carries the risk of a major conflagration

UN Spokesman Fred Eckhard

Mr Annan is due to arrive in Israel as the deadline - set by the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Barak - expires.

Mr Annan's diplomatic initiative follows nearly two weeks of clashes in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and in Israel itself in which more than 80 people have been killed - most of them Palestinian.

The worst violence since the start of the Jewish Yom Kippur religious holiday came on Sunday night when a Jewish mob went on the rampage in Nazareth in an attack described by Israeli peace campaigners as a "pogrom" against Israeli Arabs.

The BBC's Paul Adams in Jerusalem said the mob attacked people in their homes, while the police reportedly stood by, intervening only to attack residents when the situation got out of control.

Kofi Annan: Fears conflagration

Urgent diplomatic efforts to turn back the tide of violence have been stepped up through the weekend.

A UN spokesman said Mr Annan's trip was arranged hurriedly "in view of the increasingly precarious situation in the Middle East, which carries the risk of a major conflagration".

US President Bill Clinton is also reported to be considering travelling to the region this week to try to restart the peace process.

The Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, who has been holding talks in Cairo with President Mubarak, refused to comment on the situation on his arrival.

Violent flare-up

As Israel observes Yom Kippur - its most sacred religious holiday - members of Mr Arafat's faction, Fatah, have been distributing leaflets calling for a popular war.

Ehud Barak: Threat to abandon peace talks

Fatah officials say this was done on the orders of local leaders and not Mr Arafat himself.

Mr Barak repeated a warning to Mr Arafat on Sunday that he would abandon peace talks if the violence did not end by Monday night - the end of the Yom Kippur holiday.

In that event, he would instruct Israeli forces to - as he put it - act accordingly.

Yom Kippur: Israel is observing its most sacred religious holiday

In what is being seen as a gesture of conciliation, Mr Arafat has offered to rebuild Joseph's Tomb in Nablus, the Jewish shrine ransacked by Palestinian protesters.

Tension has also been rising between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

Thousands of people turned out in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, to mourn the deaths of two Palestinians shot by Israeli soldiers during protests at the border on Saturday.

Mr Barak has blamed Syria for the capture of three Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon.

A Palestinian protests on the Israel-Lebanon border

The Red Cross has joined efforts to negotiate a release of the soldiers.

Syria's Foreign Minister, Farouk Al-Sharaa, blamed the recent border violence on Israel but stressed that neither his country, Lebanon, nor the Hezbollah guerrillas were seeking war.

In Lebanon, the army was put on maximum alert in anticipation of a possible Israeli offensive.

For its part, Hezbollah took steps to arrange a prisoner swap - the three Israeli soldiers for an undetermined number of Arabs detained in Israel.

Demonstrations

Hostility against Israel has spread to other parts of the Arab world.

There was a massive demonstration of support for the Palestinians on Sunday in the Moroccan capital, Rabat.

Thousands demonstrated at Rabat

Tens of thousands of people marched through the main streets in an authorised protest led by left-wing parties and trade unions. They called for no concessions over Jerusalem and burnt Israeli and American flags.

In Casablanca, about 30 people were injured when police broke up an unauthorised demonstration.

And in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, thousands of people took part in a protest organised by mainly Islamist opposition parties.